title: The "periodic table" of the genetic code: A new way to look at the code and the decoding process.
abstract: Henri Grosjean and Eric Westhof recently presented an information-rich, alternative view of the genetic code, which takes into account current knowledge of the decoding process, including the complex nature of interactions between mRNA, tRNA and rRNA that take place during protein synthesis on the ribosome, and it also better reflects the evolution of the code. The new asymmetrical circular genetic code has a number of advantages over the traditional codon table and the previous circular diagrams (with a symmetrical/clockwise arrangement of the U, C, A, G bases). Most importantly, all sequence co-variances can be visualized and explained based on the internal logic of the thermodynamics of codon-anticodon interactions.
authors.affiliation: Center for Gene Regulation in Health and Disease and Department of Biological, Geological and Environmental Sciences, Cleveland State University, Cleveland, OH, USA; Department of Biochemistry and Center for RNA Molecular Biology, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA; Genomic Medicine Institute, Lerner Research Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH, USA.
authors.forename: Anton A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Komar
keywords: aminoacyl-tRNAs; circular genetic code diagram; decoding; energetics of codon-anticodon interactions; genetic code; genetic code evolution