A Molecular Mass Gradient is the Key Parameter of the Genetc Code Organization

TL;DR

This paper explores the genetic code's structure using a formal matrix approach, revealing a molecular mass gradient as a key organizing principle and proposing a tetrahedral 3D model inspired by Plato's solid.

Contribution

It introduces a novel matrix-based analysis of the genetic code, highlighting a molecular mass gradient and proposing a tetrahedral 3D model of the code's organization.

Findings

Identification of a molecular mass gradient as a key parameter

Discovery of structural similarities between aminoacyl tRNA synthetases

Proposal of a tetrahedral 3D model of the genetic code

Abstract

The structure of the genetic code is discussed in formal terms. A rectangular table of the code ("the code matrix"), whose properties reveal its arithmetical content tagged with the information symbols in several notations. New parameters used to analyze of the code matrix, the serial numbers of the encoded products and coding elements, ordered by molecular mass. The structural similarity of the amino acid sequences corresponding to two aminoacyl tRNA synthetases classes is found. The code matrix shows how can be organized the so-called second genetic code. The symmetrical pattern of the matrix is supported with the other parameters; it also serves as a basis to construct a 3D model of the genetic code which follows the structure of the simplest Plato solid, tetrahedron. The reasons for this unusual structure of the genetic code remains unclear.