PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Xu, Haiqing
AU  - Zhang, Jianzhi
TI  - The genetic code is not optimized for resource conservation
AID  - 10.1101/2021.02.08.430341
DP  - 2021 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 2021.02.08.430341
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2021/02/16/2021.02.08.430341.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2021/02/16/2021.02.08.430341.full
AB  - Shenhav and Zeevi conclude in a recent article (Science 370:683-687) that the universal genetic code (UGC) is optimized for resource conservation because mutations are less likely to increase proteomic nitrogen and carbon uses under the UGC than under random genetic codes (RGCs). Their finding results from miscalculating mutational effects and benchmarking against biased RGCs. Our reanalysis refutes their conclusion.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.