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Chapter category: Bioinformatics
Theory of Early Molecular Evolution: Predictions and Confirmations
Chapter authors:
Edward N. Trifonov
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A new theory of early molecular evolution is described, proceeding from original speculations
to specific predictions and their confirmations. This classical cycle is then repeated
generating the earliest picture of evolving Life. First, a consensus temporal order
(“chronology”) of appearance of amino acids and their respective codons on evolutionary scene
is reconstructed on the basis of 60 different criteria, resulting in the order: G, A, D, V, P, S, E,
L, T, R, I, Q, N, K, H, C, F, Y, M, W. It reveals two fundamental features: the amino acids
synthesized in experiments imitating primordial conditions appeared first, while the amino
acids associated with codon capture events came last. The reconstruction of codon chronology
then follows based on the above consensus temporal order, supplemented by the stability and
complementarity rules first suggested by M. Eigen and P. Schuster, and on earlier established
processivity rule. The derived genealogy of all 64 codons suggests several important predictions
that are confirmed: Gradual decay of glycine content in protein evolution; traces of the most
ancient 6-residue long gly-rich and ala-rich minigenes in extant sequences; and manifestations
of a fundamental binary code of protein sequences.
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