Numerical Characteristics of the Genetic Code for the Possibility of Overlapping Genes

Abstract

Random changes in the standard genetic code in which its structure is preserved are considered. The hypothesis that the best possibility of overlapping genes is provided by the standard genetic code of given structure is justified. This code is determined by the condition that the total number of admissible substitutions opening closed reading frames is maximal, while the number of closed reading frames for which there is no such substitution is minimal. In terms of this criterion, the estimated probability of a random choice of the standard genetic code is less than 10^–6.