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Why Is AUG the Start Codon?
Author(s) -
Demongeot Jacques,
Seligmann Hervé
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
bioessays
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.175
H-Index - 184
eISSN - 1521-1878
pISSN - 0265-9247
DOI - 10.1002/bies.201900201
Subject(s) - rna , transfer rna , start codon , genetic code , genetics , biology , stop codon , gene , translation (biology) , silent mutation , ring (chemistry) , codon usage bias , computational biology , messenger rna , mutation , genome , chemistry , organic chemistry , missense mutation
Abstract The rational design of theoretical minimal RNA rings predetermines AUG as the universal start codon. This design maximizes coded amino acid diversity over minimal sequence length, defining in silico theoretical minimal RNA rings, candidate ancestral genes. RNA rings code for 21 amino acids and a stop codon after three consecutive translation rounds, and form a degradation‐delaying stem‐loop hairpin. Twenty‐five RNA rings match these constraints, ten start with the universal initiation codon AUG. No first codon bias exists among remaining RNA rings. RNA ring design predetermines AUG as initiation codon. This is the only explanation yet for AUG as start codon. RNA ring design determines additional RNA ring gene‐ and tRNA‐like properties described previously, because it presumably mimics constraints on life's primordial RNAs.