On the Fundamental Nature and Evolution of the Genetic Code
This extract was created in the absence of an abstract.
Excerpt
The present symposium defines clearly the current state of our knowledge of the genetic code. On one level we possess a high degree of comprehension of the code. And continuation of the present lines of research (based for the most part upon certain in vitro systems plus complementing in vivo studies) promises soon to complete our understanding of the code on this level. We now know, for example, essentially all of the codon assignments; we are making significant strides in elucidating the genetic sequences concerned with punctuation and modulation and with the (possibly) related phenomenon of relative codon usage; and we are beginning to understand the complex mechanisms involved in gene transcription and translation.
Yet, on another, more fundamental level, our understanding of the genetic code remains rudimentary, if not nonexistent. And it is entirely possible, as we shall see, that this deeper level of understanding cannot be attained in...
