Abstract
A simple selforganizing model system of molecules is considered and it is demonstrated by a computer simulation, that a genetic code of 16 elements (aminoacids) can gradually be formed by such a system in the course of many generations. By a number of rare chance events, each suppressing other events of equal a priori probability, a single code results out of an immense number of possible codes of the same a priori probability. The result is discussed in relation to the uniqueness of the genetic code in living systems. The computer simulation emphasizes a particular step in a model pathway discussed elsewhere consisting of many assumed physicochemical steps leading to a genetic apparatus.
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Kuhn, H., Kuhn, C. Evolution of a genetic code simulated with the computer. Origins Life Evol Biosphere 9, 137–150 (1978). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00931411
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00931411