The Evolution Of The Genetic Code

Nigel Goldenfeld, Professor of Physics, UIUC
Work done in collaboration with Kalin Vetsigian and Carl Woese, UIUC
Work funded by the National Science Foundation

There is now incontrovertible evidence that the canonical genetic code is both universal and optimal with respect to a property known as the polar requirement, first identified and measured by Carl Woese. These findings strongly suggest that the genetic code must have undergone a period of evolution prior to the root of the universal phylogenetic tree. Yet, evolutionary changes to the genetic code would appear to have the effect of disabling translation, and thus be fatal. A theoretical model of the evolution of the genetic code is presented here, together with a suggested scenario for a sequence of phase transitions in the emergence of early life.

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