Genetic code correlations: Differential rates of non-enzymatic activation of hydrophobic amino acids by ATP

The relative rates of non-enzymatic activation of several hydrophobic amino acids by ATP have been found to bear an interesting relationship to the ordering of these amino acids in the genetic anticode. All of these hydrophobic amino acids (phe, leu, val, ile and met) have adenylic acid, the most hydrophobic nucleotide, as the central and most important member of their anticodons, and the ordering of their relative rates of nonenzymatic activation by ATP has been found not to correlate with the ordering of the hydrophobicities of the amino acids themselves, but rather with the ordering of the average estimates of the hydrophobicities of their respective anticodonic dinucleotides. These data suggest that the genetic code is based not just on hydrophobic relationships or affinities between amino acids and nucleotides, but perhaps more importantly, on the total reaction chemistry between amino acids and nucleotides.