Abstract:
Earlier, the author introduced the integral characteristics of the genetic code (Integral characteristics of the genetic code. Mathematical modeling, v. 22, № 9, 2010). Below we study one of these characteristics, which corresponds to the potential for building code overlapping genes when the same piece of DNA encodes two protein sequences. The study is conducted for a variety of genetic codes, which corresponds to two groups of such codes. First of all, considered hypothetical codes, which would provide a range of changes to this data using a different number of permutations of the codons in the standard genetic code. The second group of codes — natural genetic codes. It turned out that all the currently known natural genetic codes (which to date 15) have one thing in common. This property is formulated. Note that the first natural custom code was established in 1979 in a human cell, in a separate organelle — the mitochondria.
Keywords:overlappings of genes, Integral characteristic, hypothetical codes, codes 15 natural.