DNA Complexity Surprises Researchers

The Encyclopedia of DNA Elements(ENCODE) is a project to catalog all functional elements in the human genome. Since its launch in 2003 by the by the US National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) researchers have created a complicated catalog of biochemically active DNA strands.

'Complicated' is the operative word.

Recently published papers from the project have reversed the conventional wisdom that most of Human DNA serves no useful purpose and in fact, reveal the vast majority of human DNA "participates in at least one biochemical event in at least one cell type."

The more we learn about Human DNA, the more we learn about its complexity.

Eric Green, director of the National Human Genome Research Institute and collaborator on the ENCODE project, said in a press briefing on September 5, "The complexity of our biology resides not in the number of our genes but in the regulatory switches."

Using experimentally derived data from 150 types of human cells, scientists mapped millions of DNA sites regulataing gene expression and determining complex aspects of human biology that make each of us unique.

Millions!

Ewan Birney, a computational biologist at the European Bioinformatics Institute in England who coordinated the analysis for the project, said, ""There's way more switches than we ever imagined."

Surprise!

Green adds, "Our blueprint is remarkably complicated, and we need to be committed for the long haul to understand it."

Complicated.

Does it seem reasonable to believe gentic complexity arose by random chance? Not to me and I argue, not to anyone without an anti-creation bias. DNA is simply too complex to occur by random chance.

Unlike many creationists, I'm not suggesting evolution didn't produce this complexity. I'm suggesting the complexity didn't occur by accident. In my mind, the evidence suggests the workings of a Rational Mind, call it God, Creator, Designer, etc. who could have used evolution as the creation mechanism to produce life.

In other words, evolution and natural selection is guided and purposed by an intelligent mind.

Moreover, research from the ENCODE project is already in use for screening and testing for breast cancer, diabetes, autoimmune diseases, prostate cancer and other diseases and disorders.

Not only has our Creator provided evidence for his existence, but, the blueprint for our own.