Amino Acids

In the coming weeks this blog will feature a series of entries about amino acids. More specifically the focus will be on non-canonical amino acids with a view toward a truer understanding of the so called chemical affinity concept. Chemical affinity advocates contend that tRNA, essential to the genetic code translation function, paired with amino acid cognates during the formation of the code itself because of a chemical affinity between amino acids and corresponding codons. This in turn is offered as an explanation for how a coding system became fixated during the origin of life. I believe the explanation is fundamentally flawed. Coming blog entries are intended to show why.