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Pré-Publication, Document De Travail Année : 2011

Molecular codes in biology: the genetic code and beyond

Résumé

The trend to call a code any correspondence between molecular entities requires clarification. Taking as a basis the reference biological code, the genetic code, we argue that codes are defined by the existence of adaptors that recognize separately symbols, also termed codewords, and objects to be encoded. The genetic code actually involves two nested adaptors: the enzymes aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases bridge amino acids and tRNAs into aminoacyl-tRNAs, which in turn bridge codons and amino acids, thus defining the genetic code. Natural and synthetic variants demonstrate that today the genetic code is arbitrary. In contrast, the correspondence between codons and anticodons is a mere physicochemical pairing rule. Among proposed molecular codes (sequence codes, the histone code, the transcriptional regulatory code) few if any qualify as a code. Calling codes simple pairing rules, contingency tables, or puzzles is misleading. Faced to a potential code, the agenda is to investigate whether coevolved adaptors establishing an arbitrary correspondence between objects and codewords can be evidenced.
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hal-04085620 , version 1 (29-04-2023)

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Annick Lesne. Molecular codes in biology: the genetic code and beyond. 2023. ⟨hal-04085620⟩
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