Collective evolution and the genetic code

Abstract

A dynamical theory for the evolution of the genetic code is presented, which accounts for its universality and optimality. The central concept is that a variety of collective, but non-Darwinian, mechanisms likely to be present in early communal life generically lead to refinement and selection of innovation-sharing protocols, such as the genetic code. Our proposal is illustrated using a simplified computer model, and placed within the context of a sequence of transitions that early life may have made, prior to the emergence of vertical descent.

References in corpus (1)

• p-Adic Degeneracy of the Genetic Code

Cited by in corpus (5)

• Spontaneous Emergence of Modularity in a Model of Evolving Individuals
• Spontaneous Emergence of Modularity in a Model of Evolving Individuals and in Real Networks
• An algebraic hypothesis about the primeval genetic code
• Three phases in the evolution of the standard genetic code: how translation could get started
• A Fundamentally New Perspective on the Origin and Evolution of Life