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SUMMARY:How microbial communities drove the evolution of the genetic code 
 more than 3.8 billion years ago - Goldenfeld\, N (University of Illinois a
 t Urbana-Champaign)
DTSTART:20141106T150000Z
DTEND:20141106T160000Z
UID:TALK55981@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Mustapha Amrani
DESCRIPTION:Relics of early life\, preceding even the last universal commo
 n ancestor of all life on Earth\, are present in the structure of the mode
 rn day canonical genetic code --- the map between DNA sequence and amino a
 cids that form proteins.  The code is not random\, as often assumed\, but 
 instead is now known to have certain error minimisation properties.  How c
 ould such a code evolve\, when it would seem that mutations to the code it
 self would cause the wrong proteins to be translated\, thus killing the or
 ganism?  Using digital life simulations\, I show how a unique and optimal 
 genetic code can emerge over evolutionary time\, but only if horizontal ge
 ne transfer within early microbial communities --- a network effect --- wa
 s a much stronger characteristic of early life than it is now.  These resu
 lts suggest a natural scenario in which evolution exhibits three distinct 
 dynamical regimes\, differentiated respectively by the way in which inform
 ation flow\, genetic novelty and complexity emerge.\n
LOCATION:Seminar Room 2\, Newton Institute Gatehouse
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