The invention of the genetic code

As is well known, the genetic code is the representation of the amino acid sequence of proteins by means of DNA strands. Now, the proteins of living beings are made of 20 different amino acids. However, there are only four different nucleotides in DNA. How can just four bases represent 20 amino acids?

With codons made of two nucleotides just 16 amino acids could be represented. As they are 20, two nucleotides are not enough: three must be used. Indeed, that is what life has done: each amino acid is represented by codons made of three nucleotides. The problem is, three nucleotides could represent 64 different amino acids, rather than 20 (21, considering that there codons mark the end of the string). What is the solution? Obviously, some amino acids must be represented by several codons (this is what is called degeneracy of the genetic code).

The four DNA nucleotides are made of a skeleton of sugar and phosphoric acid, combined with a nucleobase. In DNA there are four different bases:

• Two purines (P): adenine (A) and guanine (G).
• Two pyrimidines (Q): cytosine (C) y thymine (T).

The following table shows the genetic code:

Codón	Amin.	Codón	Amin.	Codón	Amin.	Codón	Amin.
AAP	Lysine	GAP	Glutamic ac.	CAP	Glutamine	TAP	Fin
AAQ	Asparagine	GAQ	Aspartic ac.	CAQ	Histidine	TAQ	Tyrosine
AGP	Arginine	GGP	Glycine	CGP	Arginine	TGP	End Tryptophan
AGQ	Serine	GGQ	Glycine	CGQ	Arginine	TGQ	Cysteine
ACP	Threonine	GCP	Alanine	CCP	Proline	TCP	Serine
ACQ	Threonine	GCQ	Alanine	CCQ	Proline	TCQ	Serine
ATP	Isoleucine Methionine	GTP	Valine	CTP	Leucine	TTP	Leucine
ATQ	Isoleucine	GTQ	Valine	CTQ	Leucine	TTQ	Phenylalanine

The table shows 32 boxes rather than 64, because the third base in each codon is specified by the group the base belongs to: purine (P) or pyrimidine (Q). Observe that in several cases the third base of the codon is completely ignored (the amino acid is defined by the first two), and that in almost all remaining cases, the only distinction is whether the third base is a purine or a pyrimidine. Just two boxes (TGP and ATP) take into account the concrete third base (adenine and guanine) in the codon. In both cases. it is a purine. Those cases are:

TGA: End codon

TGG: Tryptophan

ATA: Isoleucine

ATG: Methionine and start codon

The tree of life

Although the genetic code is nearly identical for all living beings, some variants have been discovered. For example, DNA in mitochondria (corpuscles of the eukaryotic cell) uses a slightly different code. There are also small changes in some species, such as Candida cylindracea, Acetabularia and Mycoplasma. But the fact that the code is almost identical for all living beings is taken as an indication that its origin was unique.

Some researchers think that the genetic code could be improved, that a better one could be designed. Others disagree. Some say that our code minimizes the deleterious effects of mutations, for a mutation in the third base will rarely have any effect on the protein represented by the gene.

The way the code originated is unknown. Current theories are divided into two groups:

a)      Top-down proposals, which start at the overall behavior and try to deduce the details by studying the chemical similarities of the amino acids representing the different codons; the complementarity of the codons; the possible effects of changes in the code; and the analysis of redundancy.

b)      Bottom-up proposals, which start at the properties of the constituent elements and try to deduce the properties of the global system by studying the origin of the associations between the codonsand the amino acids they represent; if those associations are accidental or must necessarily have arisen; and how this hypothesis is affected by the fact that RNA could have played at first both roles: encoder and enzyme (ribozyme).

The same post in Spanish

Thematic thread on Primitive Life: Preceding Next

 Manuel Alfonseca