Structural phylogenomics retrodicts the origin of the genetic code and uncovers the evolutionary impact of protein flexibility.

ABSTRACT: The genetic code shapes the genetic repository. Its origin has puzzled molecular scientists for over half a century and remains a long-standing mystery. Here we show that the origin of the genetic code is tightly coupled to the history of aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase enzymes and their interactions with tRNA. A timeline of evolutionary appearance of protein domain families derived from a structural census in hundreds of genomes reveals the early emergence of the 'operational' RNA code and the late implementation of the standard genetic code. The emergence of codon specificities and amino acid charging involved tight coevolution of aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases and tRNA structures as well as episodes of structural recruitment. Remarkably, amino acid and dipeptide compositions of single-domain prot

SUBMITTER: Caetano-Anolles G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3749098 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature