2017/02/21

"It could be that all codons could be start codons."

Start codons in DNA may be more numerous than previously thought

https://phys.org/news/2017-02-codons-dna-numerous-previously-thought.html

Excerpt: "For decades, scientists working with genetic material have labored with a few basic rules in mind. To start, DNA is transcribed into messenger RNA (mRNA), and mRNA is translated into proteins, which are essential for almost all biological functions. The central principle regarding that translation has long held that only a small number of three-letter sequences in mRNA, known as start codons, could trigger the production of proteins. But researchers might need to revisit and possibly rewrite this rule, after recent measurements from a team including scientists from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

The findings, to be published on February 21, 2017, in the journal Nucleic Acids Research by scientists in a research collaboration between NIST and Stanford University, demonstrate that there are at least 47 possible start codons, each of which can instruct a cell to begin protein synthesis. It was previously thought that only seven of the 64 possible triplet codons trigger protein synthesis.

"It could be that many potential start codons had remained undiscovered because no one could see them," said lead author Ariel Hecht, a team member at the Joint Initiative for Metrology in Biology, a research collaboration that includes NIST and Stanford.

"We thought we knew the rules, but it turns out there's a whole other level we need to learn about. The grammar of DNA might be even more sophisticated than we imagined."

My comment: Same start codons within different types of organisms has been used as an evidence for common descent. That's the end of the fairytale. This discovery points to Creation and Design.