During the process of protein translation, the cell matches three letters in DNA for each amino acid. But there are 4 x 4 x 4 = 64 possible 3-letter combination and only 20 amino acids. This means that most amino acids have more than one code and that many mutations do not change the amino acids in the resulting protein. For decades, mutations at these sites were seen as ‘silent’, but this can no longer be accepted. Instead, it is now clearly understood that most mutations in these sites, even if the amino acid sequence in the protein is unchanged, are measurably bad for the organism. There are various reasons for this, as Dr Rob explains, but this creates a giant headache for evolutionary theory. Removing this class of ‘irrelevant’ mutations means that evolution has even more mathematical difficulties. On the other hand, the new information tells us that life was designed with an amazing degree of exactitude and precision.
All quotations and references can be found in my article Carter R, Mutations are more harmful than we thought: silencing the ‘wobble’ in the codon table, creation.com/silent-mutations-harmful, 25 August 2022.
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