ArticleBiology letters2025
Flipons and the origin of the genetic code.
Article in Biology letters, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.
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Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed.
- The Chromaverse Is Colored by Triplexes Formed Through the Interactions of Noncoding RNAs with HNPRNPU, TP53, AGO, REL Proteins, Intrinsically-Disordered Regions, and Flipons.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Article
- Control of Gene Expression by Proteins That Bind Many Alternative Nucleic Acid Structures Through the Same Domain.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Article
- The evolutionary entanglement of flipons with zinc fingers and retroelements has engendered a large family of Z-DNA and G-quadruplex binding proteins.Open biology · 2025Article
- Flipons enable genomes to learn by intermediating the exchange of energy for information.Journal of the Royal Society, Interface · 2025Review
- Chemical Evolution of Life on Earth.Genes · 2025Review
- Flipons and the origin of the genetic code.Biology letters · 2025Article
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Authors and funding
1 author.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
This paper is focused on the origins of the contemporary genetic code. A novel explanation is proposed for how the mapping of nucleotides in DNA to amino acids in proteins arose that derives from repeat nucleotide sequences able to form alternative nucleic acid structures (ANS), such as the unusual left-handed Z-DNA, triplex, G-quadruplex and I-motif conformations. The scheme identifies sequence-specific contacts that map ANS repeats to dipeptide polymers (DPS). The stereochemistry required naturally evolves into a non-overlapping, triplet code for mapping nucleotides to amino acids. The ANS/DPS complexes form a simple, genetically transmitted, self-templating, autonomously replicating collection of 'tinkers' for Nature to evolve. Tinkers have agency and promote their own synthesis by forming catalytic scaffolds with metals, further enhancing their capabilities. Initial support for the model is provided by computational models built with AlphaFold3. The predictions made are properly falsifiable with the currently available methodology.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.