Uracil

Your genetic code has lots of 'words' for the same thing – information theory may help explain the redundancies

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Thursday, July 27, 2023
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The universality of the genetic code indicates a common ancestry among all living organisms and the essential role this code plays in the structure, function and regulation of biological cells.

Key Points: 
  • The universality of the genetic code indicates a common ancestry among all living organisms and the essential role this code plays in the structure, function and regulation of biological cells.
  • Understanding how the genetic code works is the foundation of genetic engineering and synthetic biology.
  • Just as computers need strings of binary code to function, biological processes also rely on bits of information.

Different words for the same thing

    • Ribosomes read three-letter words called codons, and there are 64 different possible combinations of the four letters that make different codons.
    • In this list of 64 words, 61 encode amino acids, and three signal the ribosome to stop protein synthesis in the cell.
    • In fact, since there are only 20 amino acids but 61 different words to encode them, there is quite a lot of overlap.

Engineering nature’s guidelines

    • The mapping of the 61 codes onto the the 20 amino acids would be roughly equal, with each amino acid assigned three codons.
    • Not only does the final form of a protein need to be optimal, but so do its intermediate forms.
    • Scientists understand some of the guidelines that nature follows when engineering the genetic code.

Information theory and genetics

    • Nature’s affinity for optimization using this irrational number is responsible for the infinitely repeating fractals seen in jagged shorelines, fern leaves, snowflakes and trees.
    • Beyond biology, information optimization using e also has applications in mathematics and cosmology.
    • Entropy is a measure of disorder in a system, and the maximum entropy principle states that systems evolve to states of greater disorder.
    • Although there are many biological mysteries that scientists have yet to solve, information theory can be a powerful tool to help crack the genetic code.

Uracil found in Ryugu samples

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, March 21, 2023
Comparison, Amine, Life, Bennu, Hayabusa2, Nature Communications, Asteroid, Spacecraft, Temperature, RNA, Dicarboxylic acid, Associate, Formaldehyde, Vitamin, Vitamin B3, Capsule, Protein, Niacin, Metabolism, NASA, Hydrogen cyanide, OSIRIS, Ammonia, Hokkaido University, Uracil, Phosphorus, Sulfur, 162173 Ryugu, Earth

SAPPORO, Japan, March 21, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Researchers have analyzed samples of asteroid Ryugu collected by the Japanese Space Agency's Hayabusa2 spacecraft and found uracil—one of the informational units that make up RNA, the molecules that contain the instructions for how to build and operate living organisms. Nicotinic acid, also known as Vitamin B3 or niacin, which is an important cofactor for metabolism in living organisms, was also detected in the same samples.

Key Points: 
  • "Since the Hayabusa2 spacecraft collected two samples directly from asteroid Ryugu and delivered them to Earth in sealed capsules, contamination can be ruled out."
  • The team hypothesizes that the difference in concentrations in the two samples, collected from different locations on Ryugu, is likely due to the exposure to the extreme environments of space.
  • While these were not detected in the Ryugu samples, they are known to be present in cometary ice—and Ryugu could have originated as a comet or another parent body which had been present in low temperature environments.
  • "The discovery of uracil in the samples from Ryugu lends strength to current theories regarding the source of nucleobases in the early Earth," Oba concludes.

Uracil found in Ryugu samples

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, March 21, 2023
Comparison, Amine, Life, Bennu, Hayabusa2, Nature Communications, Asteroid, Spacecraft, Temperature, RNA, Dicarboxylic acid, Associate, Formaldehyde, Vitamin, Vitamin B3, Capsule, Protein, Niacin, Metabolism, NASA, Hydrogen cyanide, OSIRIS, Ammonia, Hokkaido University, Uracil, Phosphorus, Sulfur, 162173 Ryugu, Earth

SAPPORO, Japan, March 21, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Researchers have analyzed samples of asteroid Ryugu collected by the Japanese Space Agency's Hayabusa2 spacecraft and found uracil—one of the informational units that make up RNA, the molecules that contain the instructions for how to build and operate living organisms. Nicotinic acid, also known as Vitamin B3 or niacin, which is an important cofactor for metabolism in living organisms, was also detected in the same samples.

Key Points: 
  • "Since the Hayabusa2 spacecraft collected two samples directly from asteroid Ryugu and delivered them to Earth in sealed capsules, contamination can be ruled out."
  • The team hypothesizes that the difference in concentrations in the two samples, collected from different locations on Ryugu, is likely due to the exposure to the extreme environments of space.
  • While these were not detected in the Ryugu samples, they are known to be present in cometary ice—and Ryugu could have originated as a comet or another parent body which had been present in low temperature environments.
  • "The discovery of uracil in the samples from Ryugu lends strength to current theories regarding the source of nucleobases in the early Earth," Oba concludes.