Page 58 - If Darwin Had Known about DNA

Harun Yahya

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On the one hand, there is a need for a sound and stable structure
for the containing of genetic information, while on the other a flexible

structure is required for the genes to be read and copied. So the strength
of the bond between the two arms that make up the DNA helix has to
be just right for it to fulfill its essential functions. And indeed, the DNA
helix does have just the right level of strength and elasticity. If the bond
between the DNA strips were any stronger, the two arms would stop
moving and become fixed. But if the bond were weaker, the molecule
would break apart. Yet by the will of Allah, the bonds that constitute
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DNA have the ideal structure to make the helix both highly regular and
exceedingly functional.

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T The Importance of Phosphate in DNA
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Phosphates keep together the nucleotide bases on DNA, because
the DNA helix functions in an environment containing water, and wa-
ter breaks down the bonds between phosphates and sugars. Thus it is
both advantageous and essential that the phosphate groups in DNA be
negatively charged. That negative charge eliminates the danger of the
DNA being broken down in the watery environment surrounding it.
What compounds, other than phosphates, could establish a chem-
ical bond and still manage to remain negatively charged? There are var-
ious possibilities. Yet none of these can form genetic information in the
way that phosphate does. Silicic acid and arsenic esters break down
rapidly in water. Although citric acid dissolves more slowly in water, it
lacks the stability to maintain the molecule's geometry. 36
Therefore, if phosphate did not have its own unique properties,
the DNA's double helix could not form. No self-replication biochemical
system could be established, and life would be impossible. The well-
known professor of chemistry Frank Henry Westheimer says this: "All
of these conditions are met by phosphoric acid and no other alternative
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is obvious." This situation and all the other details we have examined