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Is there a higher level genetic code that directs evolution?

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Summary

Because the genetic code is redundant for most amino acids, different codons can be used in a given position without altering the structure of the protein for which the gene codes. This flexibility permits information encoding structural, and therefore functional, properties of RNA and DNA to be transmitted simultaneously by a protein-coding sequence of DNA. Among the other messages that might be transmitted, it is proposed, is one modulating the evolution of the DNA itself.

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  1. Department of Biochemistry, Georgetown University Medical Center, 4000 Reservoir Road, N. W., 20007, Washington, DC, USA

    Lynn Helena Caporale

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Caporale, L.H. Is there a higher level genetic code that directs evolution?. Mol Cell Biochem 64, 5–13 (1984). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00420923

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