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Originally Posted by 1010011010
This remainds me of something I read in another "lies, damned lies, and statistics" type discussions. I think the context of that discussion was the probability of evolving Cytochrome C. Anyway, it was estimated that 60% of the proteins in the search space would have at least some cytochrome functionality. So while it might be one out of 20^100 (or what have you) to assemble the specific sequence for a given protein... the chance to assemble a sequence that will function for a given task may be six out of 10.
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Much of the protein does require specific amino acids, while some sections may be more flexible, this is true. However, assuming that only 5 amino acids are required specifically and that 20 of them can only be one of two amino acids (which is making it significantly more probable than is actually the case), only one of (20^5 * 10^20 = ) 3.2 x 10^26 proteins will give the correct effect, still a far larger number of proteins than could be reasonably expected to be synthesized in the lifetime of the earth.