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Results for “Genetic Code”

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PubMed1984

[Hypotheses on the establishment of a genetic code and transfer of information from proteinoids to nucleic acids].

An hypothesis is proposed in which the specificity of interaction between an aminoacid and a nucleotide sequence of a tRNA would be enhanced by a ternary association with a specific proteinoid. These strict relations would have led to the present genetic code that we know. It is also proposed that the origin of the enzymatic activity of the primitive proteinoids would have arisen from the presence of different substrates during polymerisation, which would have favored specific sequences of aminoacids by forming more stable complexes with them, corresponding to the lowest free enthalpy. The information included in the aminoacid sequences of the proteinoids would have been transferred to messenger type RNA, according to a mechanism reverse of that for the present process for protein synthesis, and then to DNA.

Amino Acids↗

PubMed1979

Water, protein folding, and the genetic code.

The absolute affinities of amino acid side chains for solvent water closely match their relative distributions between the surface and the interior of native proteins and are associated with a remarkable bias in the genetic code.

Amino Acids↗

PubMed1980

Early assignments of the genetic code dependent upon protein structure.

Orgel (1972) has suggested that polynucleotides with sequences of alternating purine/pyrimidine are likely to have predominated in prebiotic conditions. Therefore, in any early template-directed protein synthesis, the number of available codons would have been limited. However, for any self-organizing system to survive and propagate, some feedback must occur from the products of the synthesis to the control of the synthetic procedure itself; i.e. the protein synthesized should have catalysed some step in the initation of template-directed synthesis. A given protein structure with a characteristic conformation and function would be optimal for the product of such a synthesis, and this in turn would limit the number of nucleotide sequences of those available able to give rise to a functioning synthetic assembly. A possible candidate for such an early polypeptide is the ferredoxin group of proteins and it is shown that with the present-day code the corresponding nucleotides do have a high percentage of alternating purine/pyrimidine sequences. Hence these combined restraints on the primitive synthetic machinery would direct the possible assignments of the genetic code helping to explain its regularity and universality.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

PubMed1987

Natural variation in the genetic code.

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Animals↗

PubMed1992

Experimental studies on the origin of the genetic code and the process of protein synthesis: a review update.

This article is an update of our earlier review (Lacey and Mullins, 1983) in this journal on the origin of the genetic code and the process of protein synthesis. It is our intent to discuss only experimental evidence published since then although there is the necessity to mention the old enough to place the new in context. We do not include theoretical nor hypothetical treatments of the code or protein synthesis. Relevant data regarding the evolution of tRNAs and the recognition of tRNAs by aminoacyl-tRNA-synthetases are discussed. Our present belief is that the code arose based on a core of early assignments which were made on a physico-chemical and anticodonic basis and this was expanded with new assignments later. These late assignments do not necessarily show an amino acid-anticodon relatedness. In spite of the fact that most data suggest a code origin based on amino acid-anticodon relationships, some new data suggesting preferential binding of Arg to its codons are discussed. While information regarding coding is not increasing very rapidly, information regarding the basic chemistry of the process of protein synthesis has increased significantly, principally relating to aminoacylation of mono- and polyribonucleotides. Included in those studies are several which show stereoselective reactions of L-amino acids with nucleotides having D-sugars. Hydrophobic interactions definitely play a role in the preferences which have been observed.

5'-Nucleotidase↗

PubMed1985

[The meaning of the genetic code: reconstruction of the stage of prebiologic evolution].

According to a certain order in sets of the two first codon bases, 20 common amino acids can be divided into 5 families each containing 4 amino acids; the corresponding order in the distribution of codon bases can be easily detected, if common amino acids are distributed for the numbers of hydrogen atoms per molecule (Sukhodolets, 1980). In the present paper, the order in the distribution of codon bases is explained on the basis of the hypothesis claiming the prebiological existence of crystalline associates composed of amino acids and bases as free molecules. In these heterogeneous crystalline associates amino acids were analogs to the base douplets and the arrangement of molecules followed a certain rule, namely: 40 protons per molecular complex forming a standard structural compartment. It is proposed that the crystalline associates existed as lyotropic liquid crystals with hydrocarbons as solvent. The genetical code allows to discover two different original crystallization types for bases and amino acids. Therefore, the life possibly originates from combining in the same structure different crystallization patterns, which resulted in formation of a finite crystalline associate.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

PubMed1992

A stereochemical relationship could explain the origin of the genetic code.

A stereochemical analysis has been carried out to investigate the possible complementarity between an RNA double helix containing thymine instead of uracil and two growing peptide chains. It is found that the optimal interactions follow the rules of the genetic code. The nature of the interaction could allow a mechanism for aminoacyl-RNA formation which could have given rise to the tRNA ancestors. Some theoretical implications are discussed.

Drug Interactions↗

PubMed1981

Possibility of genetic coding of amino acid sequences by coherent electronic states in nucleotide chains.

The concept of coherent electronic states and coherent interactions in supramolecular structures is applied to the process of genetic information coding and its transcription from DNA to mRNA. A new genetic code is proposed based on the assumption of coherent electron states in linear chains of nucleotide bases. A new interpretation of codon equivalency (redundancy) is given. The number of existing amino acids is derived from the optimalization principle applied to the physical system storing the genetic information in the new code. The proposed code uses a variable number of positions or nucleotide bases along the DNA-mRNA structure to code a single amino acid in a protein. The average of this variable number must be equal to the base of natural logarithms (e = 2.7 . . .) in order to minimize the number of nucleotides required to code a sequence of amino acids.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

PubMed1988

Evolutionary implication of genetic code deviations.

We formulate the following hypothesis: Life's origin may have occurred during the lower Archaean at a time when the environmental temperature was higher than it is at present. Preliminary consequences of this hypothesis are studied from the point of view of molecular evolution. We restrict our attention to implications regarding the genetic code. We conclude that alternative assignment of termination codons may be understood in terms of: (a) the elevated temperatures to which the progenote may initially have been exposed; and (b) the subsequent response of its genome to the opportunity provided by the eventual loss of hyperthermal genetic expression during a thermal transition (TT) period, which was triggered off by the evolution of the dynamic Earth.

Biological Evolution↗

PubMed1980

[Use of the degeneracy of the genetic code by selective pressure to cut up genes of procaryote genomes].

The DNA sequences of three bacteriophages are analysed in order to localise those parts coding for a protein. A weak stability on the DNA molecule allows us to characterize the beginning and the end of genes. A survey of the codons used shows that the cause for this weak stability is the systematic use of A-T bases in third position, which is made possible by the degeneracy of the genetic code.

Bacteriophage phi X 174↗

PubMed1990

The genetic code of a squid mitochondrial gene.

Cytochrome oxidase subunit I gene of a squid (Mollusca), Doryteuthis mitochondrial genome was sequenced. Comparison with the nucleotide sequence and the deduced amino acid sequence of other animal mitochondria suggests that the squid mitochondria has a variation in the genetic code; UGA codes for tryptophan, AUA for methionine and AGA/G for serine. This situation is similar to the case of Drosophila or Ascaris mitochondria.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Drosophila melanogaster mitochondrial DNA, a novel organization and genetic code.

The sequence of a 4,869 base-pair fragment of Drosophila melanogaster mitochondrial DNA is presented. It contains genes for cytochrome oxidase subunits I, II and III, ATPase subunit 6 and six tRNAs together with two unassigned reading frames. The gene organization differs from that of mammalian mitochondrial DNAs. Evidence is provided for a genetic code in which AGA codes for serine and the quadruplet ATAA is used in initiation of translation.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

PubMed1991

Selenoprotein synthesis: an expansion of the genetic code.

A number of enzymes employ the unusual amino acid selenocysteine as part of their active site because of its high chemical reactivity. Selenocysteine is incorporated into these proteins co-translationally: biosynthesis occurs on a specific tRNA and insertion into a growing polypeptide is directed by a UGA codon in the mRNA. In E. coli, this requires a specific translation factor. Selenocysteine thus represents a unique expansion of the genetic code.

Animals↗

PubMed1993