Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Experiment Videos

Codons and hypercycles.

M Ycas1

  • 1State University of New York, Health Science Center, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Syracuse 13210, USA.

Origins of Life and Evolution of the Biosphere : the Journal of the International Society for the Study of the Origin of Life
|March 17, 1999
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Computing tertiary structures of proteins.

Journal of protein chemistry·1990
Same author

On the computation of the tertiary structure of globular proteins II.

Journal of theoretical biology·1979
Same author

On the computation of the tertiary structure of globular proteins.

Journal of theoretical biology·1978
Same author

Origin of periodic proteins.

Federation proceedings·1976
Same author

The error catastrophe hypothesis and aging.

Journal of mathematical biology·1976
Same author

On certain homologies between proteins.

Journal of molecular evolution·1976
Same journal

Decorated Vesicles as Prebiont Systems (a Hypothesis).

Origins of life and evolution of the biosphere : the journal of the International Society for the Study of the Origin of Life·2023
Same journal

Enhancement of Prebiotic Peptide Formation in Cyclic Environments.

Origins of life and evolution of the biosphere : the journal of the International Society for the Study of the Origin of Life·2023
Same journal

Sequential Amplification of Amino Acid Enantiomeric Excess by Conglomerate and Racemic Compound: Plausible Prebiotic Route Towards Homochirality.

Origins of life and evolution of the biosphere : the journal of the International Society for the Study of the Origin of Life·2023
Same journal

Did Salts in Seawater Play an Important Role in the Adsorption of Molecules on Minerals in the Prebiotic Earth? The Case of the Adsorption of Thiocyanate onto Forsterite-91.

Origins of life and evolution of the biosphere : the journal of the International Society for the Study of the Origin of Life·2023
Same journal

The Possible Role of Anoxic Alkaline High Subcritical Water in the Formation of Ferric Minerals, Methane and Disordered Graphitic Carbon in a BARB3 Drilled Sample of the 3.4 Ga Buck Reef Chert.

Origins of life and evolution of the biosphere : the journal of the International Society for the Study of the Origin of Life·2023
Same journal

Parity Violation Energy Difference Calculation of Atropisomers.

Origins of life and evolution of the biosphere : the journal of the International Society for the Study of the Origin of Life·2023
See all related articles

The origin of genetic code assignments likely predates current protein synthesis machinery. Computer models suggest assignments arose with early hypercycle systems, not for error resistance or randomly.

Area of Science:

  • Biochemistry
  • Origin of Life Studies
  • Molecular Evolution

Background:

  • Theories on the origin of the genetic code often assume the protein synthesis machinery existed when codon assignments were established.
  • Investigating these hypotheses is crucial for understanding early molecular evolution.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To examine hypotheses regarding the origin of codon assignments using computer modeling.
  • To determine if codon assignments were optimized for error resistance or if they are random.
  • To propose a model for the origin of the hypercycle system.

Main Methods:

  • Computer modeling was employed to test hypotheses about codon assignment origins.
  • Analysis of potential evolutionary pathways for amino acid incorporation and genetic code development.

Related Experiment Videos

Main Results:

  • Results do not support codon assignments being optimized for resistance to reading and mutation errors.
  • The assignments are unlikely to be random.
  • An increase in the number of amino acid species during evolution is improbable.
  • An originally ambiguous genetic dictionary leading to error catastrophe is also improbable.

Conclusions:

  • A relationship exists between amino acid properties and their codons.
  • Codon assignments likely originated with the hypercycle (aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase system) before the current protein synthesis machinery.
  • The proposed hypercycle model suggests initial components were catalytically active independently of self-replication.