On the Uniqueness of the Standard Genetic Code

Life (Basel). 2017 Feb 13;7(1):7. doi: 10.3390/life7010007.

Abstract

In this work, we determine the biological and mathematical properties that are sufficient and necessary to uniquely determine both the primeval RNY (purine-any base-pyrimidine) code and the standard genetic code (SGC). These properties are: the evolution of the SGC from the RNY code; the degeneracy of both codes, and the non-degeneracy of the assignments of aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases (aaRSs) to amino acids; the wobbling property; the consideration that glycine was the first amino acid; the topological and symmetrical properties of both codes.

Keywords: RNY code; Standard genetic code; aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases; degeneracy; evolution of the genetic code; frozen code; symmetry.