The First Billion Years: Habitability 2019 (LPI Contrib. No. 2134) 1004.pdf
ABSTRACT HABITABILITY The First Billion Years September 8-12, 2019 Laramie, Wyoming USA
POLYHEDRAL CHARTS OF THE COMMONLY OCCURRING AMINO ACIDS AND NUCLEIC ACID BASES
Peter R. Bahn Bahn Biotechnology Company, 10415 E. Boyd Rd., Mt. Vernon, IL 62864 USA E-Mail: [email protected]
The 20 commonly occurring amino acids are: Alanine, Arginine, Asparagine, Aspartic Acid, Cysteine, Glutamine, Glutamic Acid, Glycine, Histidine, Isoleucine, Leucine, Lysine, Methionine, Phenylalanine, Proline, Serine, Threonine, Tryptophan, Tyrosine, and Valine. The corresponding 3-letter symbols for the amino acids are: Ala, Arg, Asn, Asp, Cys, Gln, Glu, Gly, His, Ile, Leu, Lys, Met, Pro, Ser, Thr, Trp, Tyr, and Val. The corresponding 1-letter symbols for the amino acids are: A, R, N, D, C, Q, E, G, H, I, L, K, M, F, P, S, T, W, Y, and V. The 4 commonly occurring RNA (Ribo Nucleic Acid) and the 4 commonly occurring DNA (Deoxyribo Nucleic Acid) bases are: Adenine, Guanine, Cytosine, and Uracil in the case of RNA or Thymine in the case of DNA. The 1-letter symbol for Adenine is A, the 1-letter symbol for Guanine is G, the 1-letter symbol fro Cytosine is C, the 1-letter symbol for Uracil is U, and the 1-letter symbol for Thymine is T. Adenine and Guanine are purines. Cytosine and Uracil and Thymine are pyrimidines. In RNA and DNA, Adenine normally base pairs with Uracil and Thymine, respectively, and Guanine normally base pairs with Cytosine. A Platonic polyhedron is a polyhedron with congruent faces and the same number of faces meeting at each vertex. The 5 Platonic polyhedrons are: the Tetrahedron with 4 faces, the Cube with 6 faces, the Octahedron with 8 faces, the Dodecahedron with 12 faces, and the Icosahedron with 20 faces. Since there are 20 commonly occurring amino acids and there are 20 faces to an icosahedron, a useful heuristic device for learning the chemical structures, the names, the 3-letter symbols, and the 1-letter symbols for the amino acids can be constructed by placing the chemical structure, the 3-letter symbol, and the 1-letter symbol for each amino acid on a single face of an icosahedron. United States Design Patent Number US D721,005 S, by the author, shows such an icosahedron. Since there are 4 commonly occurring RNA bases and 4 commonly occurring DNA bases, useful heuristic devices for learning and remembering the chemical structures, the names, and the 1-letter symbols for each RNA and DNA base can be constructed by placing the chemical structure, the name, and the 1-letter symbol for each RNA and DNA base on a single face of an RNA or DNA tetrahedron. United States Design Patent Numbers US D755,287 S and US D759,753 S, by the author, show such tetrahedrons for RNA and DNA, respectively. Such polyhedral charts, when assembled, can be tossed like dice to generate random sequences of amino acids, RNA, and DNA.