Definition for DNA in Scripture
Glossary
DNA:
DNA is an acronym for the words, Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid. DNA is a biological salt. DNA — is an acronym for the words, Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid. DNA is a biological salt.[1] In 1953 James Watson, Francis Crick, and Maurice Wilkins published a paper titled, “A Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid [DNA].” The first sentence in the article is significant. It informs us that DNA is a biological salt.[2] The article, published in Nature magazine, includes commentary by Tom Zinnen. Through his analysis, we can gain a better understanding of the chemistry by which this is so.
According to Zinnen, after losing positively charged hydrogen ions (an ion is any particle, e.g., atom, molecule, etc., which has a net negative or positive electrical charge), DNA phosphates (phosphate and sugar comprise the backbone of the DNA double helix — the handrails of the spiral staircase of the double helix) become negatively charged. Consequently, they bind to a cation (a positively charged ion) to achieve electrical neutrality – usually, but not limited to, Na+ (sodium) or K+ (potassium). That makes the DNA polymer a "salt" of [Na+] x [DNA-] (sodium phosphate) or [K+] x [DNA-] (potassium phosphate).[3][4] Physicists Perepelytsya and Volkov describe DNA as a salt of alkali.[5] Russian scientist Maxim D. Frank-Kamenetskii in his book, Unraveling DNA: The Most Important Molecule of Life, tells us DNA, despite being called an acid, is a salt. He further states that calling it an acid is an error of the highest magnitude. It can be compared to the error that would occur if one referred to ordinary table salt as hydrochloric acid.[6]
Under what circumstances does biological dust also qualify as a biological salt? It occurs when an ion[7] of acid bonds with an ion of alkali metal (both are crystalline minerals). In DNA, the minerals sodium[8] and potassium,[9] which are both ions of alkali metals, bond with the DNA backbone (the two sides of the double helix spiral ladder. The two sides of the biological ladder are composed of a phosphate group ... a derivative of phosphoric acid ... bonded with 5-carbon sugar). This hydrogen bonding makes DNA an organic salt[10] — a salt also classified as dust.
In all honesty, to accept that DNA is a salt, is not a prerequisite for understanding the molecule's chemical underpinnings. What is essential is to recognize it as an irrefutable scientific fact. However, the role of salt is critical to our understanding of DNA and life. Currently, there is a hypothesis that life began in a high-salt environment. A research team at Florida State University College of Medicine headed by structural biologist Michael Blaber is championing the hypothesis. He believes the emergence of life (known as abiogenesis) began through the presence of ten pre-biotic amino acids (amino acids are the “building blocks” of DNA-produced proteins) existing in a high-salt environment. As of this writing, they were 80% of the way towards proving their hypothesis. Their findings were published in the Journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in 2013.[11]
Excluding matter we consume (water and food), we are, from the top of our head to the tip of our toes, nothing but cells (I have seen estimates ranging from 10 to 100 trillion cells in the human body). In every one of those cells, we have a complete copy of our salt of DNA. We have so much salt of DNA in our bodies. If we were to place every strand end-to-end, it would extend ten billion miles; enough to go to Pluto and back.[12] So yeah, I’d say we’re all pillars of salt.
Knowing the meaning of salt in Scripture, what conclusions can be drawn concerning the deeper meaning of dust, stone, and rock in Scripture? First, let’s examine why, in physical creation, it is proper to refer to the Son of God as a stone or rock. According to St. Hildegard, of the three qualities of a stone, the one that denotes the Son is the solidity of touch because it signifies the ability of man to see, touch, and know him. [13]
What makes DNA Classified as a Chunk of Rock / Stone/ Dust?
All rocks and stones (which come from rocks) are formed from two or more minerals (minerals are generally defined as inorganic solids that have a crystalline structure).[14] Some minerals are composed of only one element listed in the Periodic Table. Others are mixed with other elements, such as aluminum, silicon, sodium, and magnesium.[15] Further, some elemental minerals are classified as metallic, e.g., gold, silver, and copper.
For example, the minerals of sodium[16] and potassium[17] are both alkali metals that combine with the phosphate minerals of the DNA backbone (the two sides of the double helix ladder) to make it a salt — a salt that is also a stone. Furthermore, this cannot be overemphasized; the DNA itself has a crystalline structure,[18] as do all minerals. It was x-ray crystallography that made it possible for James Watson, Francis Crick, Maurice Wilkins, and Rosalind Franklin to discover that the “B” form of DNA was in the shape of a double helix.[19]
Our DNA is a bonded collection of very, very small stones — dust — held together by electrically charged ions and surrounded by dynamically structured water molecules (more on the importance of that fact later in the book). William Whitman, a microbiology professor in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, tells us that DNA by itself, absent any of the other biological systems that make for a living cell, is nothing more than a “rock.”[20] That’s right — dust! Let’s recall the words of God to Adam: “In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; you are dust, and to dust you shall return” (Gen. 3:19).
ENDNOTE:
[1] J. D. Watson, Crick, F. H. C., with commentary by Tom Zinnen, “A Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid,” Nature (Access Excellence @ the National Health Museum) 171,737 1953 (April 1953).
[2] Ibid.
[3] Ibid.
[4] cf. James D. Watson, The Double Helix: A Personal Account of the Discovery of the Structure of DNA (New York, NY: Touchstone, 2001), 80, 88, 160, 204.
[5] S. M. Perepelytsya and S. N. Volkov, “Counterion vibrations in the DNA low-frequency spectra,” The European Physical Journal E-Soft Matter (Spinger Berlin / Heidelberg) 24, 3 (November, 2007).
[6] Maxim D. Frank-Kamenetskii, Unraveling DNA: The Most Important Molecule of Life trans. Lev Liapin, Revised ed., (Reading, MA: Perseus Publishing, 1997), 60.
[7] Note: an ion is an atom or molecule that has a net electrical charge, either negative or positive.
[8] Yinon Bentor, “Periodic Table: Sodium”, in Chemical Element.com, http://www.chemicalelements.com/elements/na.html (accessed 10/11/2011).
[9] Ibid.
[10] “Phosphate Group,” Biology Dictionary, https://biologydictionary.net/phosphate-group/, accessed 8/8/2019.
[11] Florida State University, “How life may have first emerged on Earth: Foldable proteins in a high-salt environment,” Science Daily, http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/04/130405064027.htm: Science Daily LLC, April 4, 2013 (accessed 04/07/2013);
Journal Source: M. Longo, J. Lee, M. Blaber. “Simplified protein design biased for prebiotic amino acids yields a foldable, halophilic protein.”Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2013; 110 (6): 2135 DOI:10.1073/pnas.1219530110.
[12] Weir, Kirsten. “20 Things You Didn’t Know About ... DNA.” Discover. June 13, 2011. Accessed April 8, 2017. http://discovermagazine.com/2011/apr/20-things-you-didnt-know-about-dna.
[13] Hildegard, Scivias, 163.
[14] Dr. Michael Pidwirny. “Composition of Rocks”. Fundamentals of Physical Geography, 2nd Edition (2006), http://www.physicalgeography.net/fundamentals/10d.html, 05/07/2009 (accessed 10/10/2011).
[15] Ibid.
[16] Yinon Bentor, “Periodic Table: Sodium”, in Chemical Element.com, http://www.chemicalelements.com/elements/na.html (accessed 10/11/2011).
[17] Ibid.
[18] Watson, The Double Helix: A Personal Account of the Discovery of the Structure of DNA, 165-166; 183; 193; and 113-114.
[19] Ibid., 68-69, 167-168.
[20] University of Georgia, “Light Shed on Ancient Origin of Life,” Science Daily, http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/03/130307110644.htm: Science Daily LLC, March 6, 2013 (accessed 03/08/2013).
Journal Source: F. Sarmiento, J. Mrazek, W. B. Whitman. “Genome-scale analysis of gene function in the hydrogenotrophic methanogenic archaeon Methanococcus maripaludis.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2013; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1220225110.