God there is no science about this matter God made every living creature and everything that is observed by scientist started with God.

I would write more but yahoo answers doesn’t seem to be working.

I’ve pondered on that. In order for the first life to survive, the cells would have had to reproduce. And then there is the whole matter of being able to adapt to the environment using genes. Prions, like in mad cow disease, have been theorized as precursors to cellular life. They are self-replicating proteins. I don’t know all the details, but I think they think that somehow these prions started living in cells, and perhaps the natural variations from prion to prion resulted in what we have now.

The genetic code goes way way back to maybe 3.5 Billion years ago when life started. Our ancestors as bacteria could eat another organism and acquire its DNA. Enzymes and other protien (amino acid based) based things use the RNA templates that come the DNA to be made. Yes, the DNA copies itself, combines in offspring, and preserves itself. More eggs and sperm rather than machines and robots I think. Most defects (mutations) are useless and are not passed along in evolution. I am puzzled at Mr. Hofstaders despair.

The genetic information carried by an organism – its genome – is inscribed in one or more DNA molecules. Each functional portion of a DNA molecule is referred to as a gene. Each gene is transcribed into a short template molecule of the related polymer RNA, which is better suited for protein synthesis. This in turn is translated by mediation of a machinery consisting of ribosomes and a set of transfer RNAs and associated enzymes into an amino acid chain (polypeptide), which will then be folded into a protein.

The gene sequence inscribed in DNA, and in RNA, is composed of tri-nucleotide units called codons, each coding for a single amino acid. Each nucleotide sub-unit consists of a phosphate, deoxyribose sugar and one of the 4 nitrogenous nucleotide bases grouped into 2 categories, purine and pyrimidine. The purine bases adenine (A) and guanine (G) are larger and consist of two aromatic rings. The pyrimidine bases cytosine (C) and thymine (T) are smaller and consist of only one aromatic ring. In RNA, however, thymine (T) is substituted by uracil (U), and the deoxyribose is substituted by ribose.

Overall, there are 43 = 64 different codon combinations. For example, the RNA sequence UUUAAACCC contains the codons UUU, AAA and CCC, each of which specifies one amino acid. So, this RNA sequence represents a protein sequence, three amino acids long. (DNA is also a sequence of nucleotide bases, but there thymine takes the place of uracil.)

The standard genetic code is shown in the following tables. Table 1 shows what amino acid each of the 64 codons specifies. Table 2 shows what codons specify each of the 20 standard amino acids involved in translation. These are called forward and reverse codon tables, respectively. For example, the codon AAU represents the amino acid asparagine (Asn), and cysteine (Cys) is represented by UGU and by UGC.
Many codons are redundant, meaning that two or more codons can code for the same amino acid. Degenerate codons may differ in their third positions; e.g., both GAA and GAG code for the amino acid glutamic acid. A codon is said to be four-fold degenerate if any nucleotide at its third position specifies the same amino acid; it is said to be two-fold degenerate if only two of four possible nucleotides at its third position specify the same amino acid. In two-fold degenerate codons, the equivalent third position nucleotides are always either two purines (A/G) or two pyrimidines (C/T). The degeneracy of the genetic code is what accounts for the existence of silent mutations.

Degeneracy is mandatory in order to produce enough different codons to code for 20 amino acids and a stop and start codon. Because there are four bases, triplet codons are required to produce at least 22 different codes. For example, if there were two bases per codon, then only 16 amino acids could be coded for (4²=16). Because at least 22 codes are required, then 4³ gives 64, which is the number of possible codons.

These properties of the genetic code make it more fault-tolerant for point mutations. For example, four-fold degenerate codons can tolerate any point mutation at the third position; two-fold degenerate codons can tolerate one out of the three possible point mutations at the third position. Since transition mutations (purine to purine or pyrimidine to pyrimidine mutations) are more likely than transversion (purine to pyrimidine or vice-versa) mutations, the equivalence of purines or that of pyrimidines at two-fold degenerate sites adds a further fault-tolerance.

A practical consequence of redundancy is that some errors in the genetic code only cause a silent mutation or an error that would not affect the amino acid’s hydrophilic/hydrophobic property; e.g., a codon of NUN (where N = any nucleotide) tends to code for hydrophobic amino acids. Even so, it is a single point mutation that causes a modified hemoglobin molecule in sickle-cell disease. The hydrophilic glutamate (Glu) is substituted by the hydrophobic valine (Val), which reduces the solubility of ß-globin. This causes hemoglobin to form linear polymers linked by the hydrophobic interaction between the valine groups causing sickle-cell deformation of erythrocytes. Sickle-cell disease is generally not caused by a de novo mutation. Rather it is selected for in malarial regions (in a similar way to thalassemia), as heterozygous people have some resistance to the malarial Plasmodium parasite (heterozygote advantage).

In general, these properties are widely interpreted to form part of the reason for the origin of the standard genetic code [see below].

These variable codes for amino acids are possible because of modified bases in the first base of the anticodon, and the basepair formed is called a wobble base pair. The modified bases include inosine and the U-G basepair.

Only two amino acids are specified by a single codon; one of these is the amino-acid methionine, specified by the codon AUG, which also specifies the start of transcription; the other is tryptophan, specified by the codon UGG.
Despite the variations that exist, the genetic codes used by all known forms of life on Earth are very similar. Since there are many possible genetic codes that are thought to have similar utility to the one used by Earth life, the theory of evolution suggests that the genetic code was established very early in the history of life.

One can ask the question: is the genetic code completely random, just one set of codon-amino acid correspondences that happened to establish itself and be "frozen in" early in evolution, although functionally any of the many other possible transcription tables would have done just as well? Already a cursory look at the table shows patterns that suggest that this is not the case.

There are three themes running through the many theories that seek to explain the evolution of the genetic code (and hence the origin of these patterns)1. One is illustrated by recent aptamer experiments which show that some amino acids have a selective chemical affinity for the base triplets that code for them.2 This suggests that the current, complex transcription mechanism involving tRNA and associated enzymes may be a later development, and that originally, protein sequences were directly templated on base sequences. Another is that the standard genetic code that we see today grew from a simpler, earlier code through a process of "biosynthetic expansion". Here the idea is that primordial life ‘invented’ new amino acids (e.g. as by-products of metabolism) and later back-incorporated some of these into the machinery of genetic coding. Although much circumstantial evidence has been found to indicate that originally the number of different amino acids used may have been considerably smaller than today3, precise and detailed hypotheses about exactly which amino acids entered the code in exactly what order has proved far more controversial45. A third is that natural selection organized the codon assignments of the genetic code to minimize the effects of genetic errors

Have you ever considered reading something OTHER than religious babble? Try an unbiased website for a start!

It’s a waste of time explaining facts to this fanatical loon…have a look at his other questions-no fact or truth in the world will make any difference-brainwashing at its best! Even if you were to slap him in the face with the proof he is(falsely)asking for, he would deny your existence in front of him and continue preaching falsehoods.
If Mohammed HIMSELF were to go up to him and say ‘sorry, bud, I was stringing you along for my own gain’ he still wouldn’t believe!!! One cannot fight brainwashing of that degree. Let him live his fantasy, he’ll realise once it’s too late.