Is the paradigm of genetic code evolution wrong?

It is generally accepted that the early genetic code was simpler.
Hundreds of papers have been written attempting a glimpse of this
first simpler code.
This usually involves some smaller initial set of codons and/or a
smaller initial set of amino acids.
There have been many proposed initial simpler sets of codons and amino
acids for this first code.

Today, in every organism, the genetic code is the outcome of the
interaction of three structural units (tRNAs, aminoacylation sites and
ribosomes).
But when I look at the result of this interaction, when each unit is
reduced to the simplest structure that is still functional, the result
is not a simpler genetic code but a much more complex code.
Everything seems turned a bit upside down. The simplest structures
produce the most complex code.
As the structures evolve and become more complex, the code they
produce becomes incrementally simpler and simpler until we have the
standard code of today.

Could this view that the early code must have been simpler be
completely wrong?
I think it is.

William L Hunt


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