The Genetic Anticode: The Role of Thermal Proteinoids in the Development of an Hypothesis

Abstract

I had the good opportunity to work as a postdoctoral fellow with Sid Fox for two years (1969 and 1970). It was during this period that my already existing interest in, and fascination with, the origin of the genetic code became firmly embedded in my soul. The permanancy was established by two aspect of my experience at Miami that were due, in the main, to Sid Fox’s exceptional scientific intuition. On the one hand, Sid was convinced that an understanding of the origin of the genetic code necessitated the use of a dynamic system which is synthesizing peptides. He and his coworkers were studying peptide formation from aminoacyl adenylates when I arrived there (Krampitz and Fox, 1969), and I became a part of that effort (Nakashima et al., 1970). Furthermore, as still another application of thermal proteinoids, Sid had already begun studying the question of their interaction with polynucleotides and had established that about 15 mole % lysine in the proteinoid was required to initiate their binding to polynucleotides (Waehneldt and Fox, 1968), and that lysine-rich and arginine-rich proteinoids had different preference among the homopolynucleotides (Yuki and Fox, 1969).