mindlace

At least 16 organisms from a diverse array of evolutionary lineages deviate from nature’s standard code in the amino acid “meaning” they assign to specific codons.
evolution encoded, sidebar

I had no idea there was deviance in the amino acid encoding – that’s extraordinary! The larger article gives a wonderful overview of how the basic encoding techniques of life – how amino acids are made from dna – help positive mutations to occur and help mask negative mutations. Very interesting.

In other news, the TCA cycle is as fascinating as always, though I’m disappointed that the text I’m reading now doesn’t point out that it’s driven backwards in some obligate anaerobes in order to synthesize the molecules that are intermediaries of the process.

I was interested to learn that the phosphorylation of glucose at the beginning of the oxidative process renders it incapable of leaving the cell membrane; I was also surprised to learn that chloroplasts are impermeable to NADPH and ATP.