AMINO-A An adenine molecule with a second amino (-NH2) group attached to its carbon in position 2, which acts as an extra hydrogen-bond donor.
DEAMINATION The reaction of a water molecule with the amino-group on position 4 of the pyrimidine ring of cytosine, which results in the conversion of cytosine to uracil.
DIRECTIONAL SELECTION Natural selection that acts to promote the fixation (an increase in frequency in the population to 100%) of a particular allele.
EPIMERIZATION The spontaneous change of configuration of chemical groups that are attached to a so-called asymmetric carbon atom. Such isomers are not mirror images of each other.
ERROR-CODING THEORY A theory that was developed by Hamming to analyse the detection and correction of errors in messages consisting of 'zeros' and 'ones'.
KLENOW FRAGMENT The Escherichia coli DNA polymerase, without the exonuclease subunit.
MALTHUSIAN GROWTH RATE The per capita rate of growth of a population modelled in continuous time.
MUTATION–SELECTION EQUILIBRIUM The equilibrium at which selection that decreases the frequency of an unfavourable allele exactly balances mutations that increase its frequency.
ORTHOGONALITY Features of natural and/or artificial bases that in a given set (alphabet) decrease the degree of incorporating non-cognate base pairs.
PROCESSIVITY The ability of polymerases to repeatedly add bases to the primer, extending even a new type of base.
RIBO-ORGANISM A cell in the RNA world.
RNA WORLD A hypothetical, but widely believed, era in early evolution when RNA-like molecules were not only genetic but also enzymatic material.
SIMULATED PROTOCELL MODEL An in silico implementation of a ribo-organism.
STABILIZING SELECTION Selection for the mean or intermediate phenotype; consequently, peripheral variants are eliminated, which maintains an existing state of adaptation in a stable environment.
