A Non-neutral Origin for Error Minimization in the Origin of the Genetic Code.

Massey (J Mol Evol 67:510-516, 2008; J Theor Biol 408:237-242, 2016; Nat Comput. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11047-017-9669-3, 2018) claims that the error minimization of the genetic code is derived by means of a neutral process and was not due to the action of natural selection. Here, I argue that this neutralist hypothesis of the origin of error minimization is not based directly on any neutral process but it could be only indirectly. On the contrary, it has been natural selection that has acted during the origin of the genetic code determining the property that similar amino acids are coded by similar codons within the genetic code table.