Metabolic constraints on the evolution of genetic codes: Did multiple 'preaerobic' ecosystem transitions entrain richer dialects?

Abstract

A mathematical model based on Tlusty's topological deconstruction suggests that multiple punctuated ecosystem shifts in available metabolic free energy, broadly akin to the 'aerobic' transition, enabled a punctuated sequence of increasingly complex genetic codes. These evolved until the ancestor to the present narrow spectrum of nearly maximal codes became locked-in by path dependence.