# Untitled Document

100pt  November 15, 1998

The Genetic Code as a Chronicle of Early Events in the Origin of Life

Brian K. Davis

Research Foundation of Southern California Inc.

5580 La Jolla Boulevard, La Jolla CA 92037, U.S.A.

Molecular evidence regarding the genetic code has been examined and the findings on the nature of the early events responsible for the amino acid distribution pattern in the code are reported.

Molecular evidence on the genetic code has been examined with the aim of identifying early events responsible for the amino acid distribution pattern in the code. A tree of codon assignments resulted that was rooted in the four N-fixing amino acids (Asp. Glu, Asn, Gln) and the sixteen base triplets of the NAN set (A, adenine; N, any base). This locally phased (commaless) code appeared to have arisen from ambiguous translation of a poly(A) collector strand in a surface reaction network. Copolymerisation of these amino acids produced polyanionic oligopeptides able to anchor uncharged amide residues to a positively charged mineral surface. The first genes were required to increase efficiency of N-fixation relying on oligopeptides. They were probably template strands spliced into tRNA. Expansion of the code was conditional on initiation at the $`5^{}`$-base of a translated sequence. It reduced the risk of mutation to an unreadable codon and led to incorporation of increasingly hydrophobic residues. As codons of the NUN set (U, uracil) were assigned most slowly, they received the most non-polar amino acids. The folded proteins ferredoxin and Gln synthetase evidently originated in early- and mid-expansion phase, respectively. Surface metabolism ceased by the end of code expansion, as cells bounded by a proteo-phospholipid membrane had emerged. Incorporation of positively charged and aromatic amino acids followed. They entered the code by codon capture. Synthesis of efficient enzymes with acid-base catalysis was then possible. Formation of class I and II aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases was attributed to this stage. The first cells formed in approximately 7 million yr, an interval less than the ocean circulation cycle for passage through hot submarine vents. It was estimated the Standard Code evolved within 20 million yr. These studies on the genetic code provide empirical evidence that a surface reaction network, centred on C-fixing autolcatalytic cycles, rapidly led to a cellular life on Earth.