Chuzzlewit,
You seem to be very knowledgeable about biology and such, so I want to pose some thoughts to you from another source other than me.
"The famed double-helix DNA typically includes three billion rungs of a digital, error-correcting code. A digital (symbolic) code derives its significance from arbitrary, but consistent, definitions. A digital language requires context; conventions external to the code itself. An effective digital code demands careful, skillful design.
The genetic alphabet is a 3-out-of-4 design employing four nucleic acids: Adenine, Thymine, Guanine, and Cytosine for DNA (Uracil is substituted for Thymine in the RNA). These nucleic acids will be abbreviated as A, U, G, and C in the chart that follows. Sugar molecules (ribose or deoxyribose) bind the chemical alphabet; phosphate molecules bind the sugar molecules together to form the now famous double helix.
There are 20 amino acids that are assembled into the over 100,000 various functional proteins observed. The DNA/RNA code is shown in Figure 1 on the following page.
I will try to recreate the figure in the next post. I might not be able to get around to it tonight. So tell me what you think of this so far.
ST |
