Researchers have demonstrated sustainable replication of a linear DNA template encoding DNA polymerase and terminal protein from the Phi29 bacteriophage in liposome compartments. The self-replicator survived across multiple rounds of replication-coupled reactions and accumulated mutations conferring a selection advantage within ten evolution rounds. The study lays the foundation for genetic complexity in synthetic cells and understanding evolutionary processes in a minimal cell-free system. The research was published in Nature Communications.
Stephen Meyer, an emerging figurehead in the intelligent design movement and director of the Center for Science and Culture at the Discovery Institute, presented a lecture at Biola University on May 14, 2010, discussing the DNA-based argument for intelligent design. Meyer challenges the idea of undirected evolution, focusing on the origin of the first life and the information needed for cell creation. He suggests that DNA’s digital information points back to an intelligent designer. Meyer emphasizes the role of digital information in biology and draws parallels between DNA and computer programming, highlighting the specified complexity required for biological functions. Meyer’s work questions the likelihood of random genetic arrangements producing functional proteins, arguing against the notion of chance in complex biological systems.
The article discusses the concept of DNA as software and the debate over whether it is a result of copying errors or programming. It mentions Bill Gates, Craig Venter, and Richard Dawkins acknowledging DNA’s similarity to software. Featured individuals include Stephen Meyer, Director of the Center for Science and Culture at Discovery Institute, and Douglas Axe, Maxwell Visiting Professor of Molecular Biology at Biola University.
DNA is similar to computer programming code, with a quaternary code of A, C, T, G representing 20 amino acid letters for protein chains. Human DNA is a single strand 1.6 billion molecules long with 3.2 billion base pairs, fitting into cells at the microscopic level. It has error-correction, self-replication, self-modification, and self-repair abilities, making it a complex information structure. Viruses with degraded genetic information are considered by some to challenge evolution.
Stephen C. Meyer discusses the discovery of DNA’s information-bearing properties by James Watson and Francis Crick in 1953. DNA stores assembly instructions in a four-character alphabetic code for building proteins, functioning like a language or computer code. This specific arrangement of chemical bases conveys instructions and produces effects, containing specified or functional information. The origin of this functionally specified information in DNA poses a mystery in biology, especially regarding the first life. Scientists are puzzled by how the complex information in DNA arose and its relation to the origin of life. Meyer argues that intelligent design provides a better explanation for the DNA enigma than undirected mechanisms. Early theories on the origin of life assumed life could be easily constructed by combining simple chemicals, but they did not fully grasp the complexity and information content of DNA, RNA, and proteins.
