Photon Dissipation as the Origin of Information Encoding in RNA and DNA

Ultraviolet light incident on organic material can initiate its spontaneous dissipative structuring into chromophores which can catalyze their own replication. This may have been the case for one of the most ancient of all chromophores dissipating the Archean UVC photon flux, the nucleic acids. Olig...

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Main Authors: Julián Mejía Morales, Karo Michaelian
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2020-08-01
Series:Entropy
Subjects:
DNA
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/1099-4300/22/9/940
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spelling doaj-877a1e349ec345daa4cbdb74f3d179002020-11-25T03:51:33ZengMDPI AGEntropy1099-43002020-08-012294094010.3390/e22090940Photon Dissipation as the Origin of Information Encoding in RNA and DNAJulián Mejía Morales0Karo Michaelian1Postgrado in Physical Sciences, Instituto de Física, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Cto. de la Investigación Científica, Cuidad Universitaria, Mexico City C.P. 04510, MexicoDepartment of Nuclear Physics and Application of Radiation, Instituto de Física, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Cto. de la Investigación Científica, Cuidad Universitaria, Mexico City C.P. 04510, MexicoUltraviolet light incident on organic material can initiate its spontaneous dissipative structuring into chromophores which can catalyze their own replication. This may have been the case for one of the most ancient of all chromophores dissipating the Archean UVC photon flux, the nucleic acids. Oligos of nucleic acids with affinity to particular amino acids which foment UVC photon dissipation would most efficiently catalyze their own reproduction and thus would have been selected through non-equilibrium thermodynamic imperatives which favor dissipation. Indeed, we show here that those amino acids with characteristics most relevant to fomenting UVC photon dissipation are precisely those with greatest chemical affinity to their codons or anticodons. This could provide a thermodynamic basis for the specificity in the amino acid-nucleic acid interaction and an explanation for the accumulation of information in nucleic acids since this information is relevant to the optimization of dissipation of the externally imposed thermodynamic potentials. The accumulation of information in this manner provides a link between evolution and entropy production.https://www.mdpi.com/1099-4300/22/9/940entropyentropy productionnon-equilibrium thermodynamicsinformation encodingnucleic acidsDNA
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Julián Mejía Morales
Karo Michaelian
spellingShingle Julián Mejía Morales
Karo Michaelian
Photon Dissipation as the Origin of Information Encoding in RNA and DNA
Entropy
entropy
entropy production
non-equilibrium thermodynamics
information encoding
nucleic acids
DNA
author_facet Julián Mejía Morales
Karo Michaelian
author_sort Julián Mejía Morales
title Photon Dissipation as the Origin of Information Encoding in RNA and DNA
title_short Photon Dissipation as the Origin of Information Encoding in RNA and DNA
title_full Photon Dissipation as the Origin of Information Encoding in RNA and DNA
title_fullStr Photon Dissipation as the Origin of Information Encoding in RNA and DNA
title_full_unstemmed Photon Dissipation as the Origin of Information Encoding in RNA and DNA
title_sort photon dissipation as the origin of information encoding in rna and dna
publisher MDPI AG
series Entropy
issn 1099-4300
publishDate 2020-08-01
description Ultraviolet light incident on organic material can initiate its spontaneous dissipative structuring into chromophores which can catalyze their own replication. This may have been the case for one of the most ancient of all chromophores dissipating the Archean UVC photon flux, the nucleic acids. Oligos of nucleic acids with affinity to particular amino acids which foment UVC photon dissipation would most efficiently catalyze their own reproduction and thus would have been selected through non-equilibrium thermodynamic imperatives which favor dissipation. Indeed, we show here that those amino acids with characteristics most relevant to fomenting UVC photon dissipation are precisely those with greatest chemical affinity to their codons or anticodons. This could provide a thermodynamic basis for the specificity in the amino acid-nucleic acid interaction and an explanation for the accumulation of information in nucleic acids since this information is relevant to the optimization of dissipation of the externally imposed thermodynamic potentials. The accumulation of information in this manner provides a link between evolution and entropy production.
topic entropy
entropy production
non-equilibrium thermodynamics
information encoding
nucleic acids
DNA
url https://www.mdpi.com/1099-4300/22/9/940
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