title: The scene of a frozen accident.
abstract: It has been suggested that in vitro selection experiments can provide information not only on what might have occurred during the evolution of the RNA world, but can in fact yield insights into particular features of the RNA world. In particular, it has been suggested that the sequences of anti-amino acid aptamers can provide clues to the origin of the genetic code, and that there is a statistically significant association between motifs found in aptamers and codons. We argue that the suggested connections between modern motifs and ancient sequences are logically tenuous, and show that there is no statistically meaningful association between motifs found in aptamers and codons.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Texas at Austin, 78712, USA. andy.ellington@mail.utexas.edu
authors.forename: A D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Ellington
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Khrapov
authors.forename: C A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Shaw
mesh_terms: D020816:Amino Acid Motifs; D000596:Amino Acids / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D001483:Base Sequence; D001704:Biopolymers / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D003062:Codon / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D005815:Genetic Code / Q000235:genetics*; D008957:Models, Genetic; D009843:Oligoribonucleotides / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D010455:Peptides / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D014176:Protein Biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics; D012313:RNA / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D013698:Templates, Genetic
chemical_list: D000596:Amino Acids; D001704:Biopolymers; D003062:Codon; D009843:Oligoribonucleotides; D010455:Peptides; D012313:RNA