Wong J Tze-Fei
Applied Genomics Laboratory and Department of Biochemistry, Hong Kong University of Science & Technology, Hong Kong, China.
Bioessays. 2005 Apr;27(4):416-25. doi: 10.1002/bies.20208.
The coevolution theory of the genetic code, which postulates that prebiotic synthesis was an inadequate source of all twenty protein amino acids, and therefore some of them had to be derived from the coevolving pathways of amino acid biosynthesis, has been assessed in the light of the discoveries of the past three decades. Its four fundamental tenets regarding the essentiality of amino acid biosynthesis, role of pretran synthesis, biosynthetic imprint on codon allocations and mutability of the encoded amino acids are proven by the new knowledge. Of the factors that guided the evolutionary selection of the universal code, the relative contributions of Amino Acid Biosynthesis: Error Minimization: Stereochemical Interaction are estimated to first approximation as 40,000,000:400:1, which suggests that amino acid biosynthesis represents the dominant factor shaping the code. The utility of the coevolution theory is demonstrated by its opening up experimental expansions of the code and providing a basis for locating the root of life.
遗传密码的共进化理论假定，益生元合成并非所有20种蛋白质氨基酸的充足来源，因此其中一些氨基酸必定源自氨基酸生物合成的共同进化途径。鉴于过去三十年的发现，该理论已得到评估。关于氨基酸生物合成的必要性、前体转运合成的作用、密码子分配上的生物合成印记以及所编码氨基酸的可变性，其四个基本原理已被新知识所证实。在引导通用密码进化选择的因素中，氨基酸生物合成、错误最小化、立体化学相互作用的相对贡献初步估计为40,000,000:400:1，这表明氨基酸生物合成是塑造密码的主导因素。共进化理论的实用性体现在它开启了密码的实验扩展，并为探寻生命起源提供了基础。
