The Origins of the RNA World
TLDR
The problem of the origin of the RNA World is far from being solved, and it is fruitful to consider the alternative possibility that RNA was preceded by some other replicating, evolving molecule, just as DNA and proteins were preceded by RNA.Abstract:
The general notion of an "RNA World" is that, in the early development of life on the Earth, genetic continuity was assured by the replication of RNA and genetically encoded proteins were not involved as catalysts. There is now strong evidence indicating that an RNA World did indeed exist before DNA- and protein-based life. However, arguments regarding whether life on Earth began with RNA are more tenuous. It might be imagined that all of the components of RNA were available in some prebiotic pool, and that these components assembled into replicating, evolving polynucleotides without the prior existence of any evolved macromolecules. A thorough consideration of this "RNA-first" view of the origin of life must reconcile concerns regarding the intractable mixtures that are obtained in experiments designed to simulate the chemistry of the primitive Earth. Perhaps these concerns will eventually be resolved, and recent experimental findings provide some reason for optimism. However, the problem of the origin of the RNA World is far from being solved, and it is fruitful to consider the alternative possibility that RNA was preceded by some other replicating, evolving molecule, just as DNA and proteins were preceded by RNA.read more
Citations
More filters
Journal ArticleDOI
RNA in unexpected places: long non-coding RNA functions in diverse cellular contexts
Sarah Geisler,Jeff Coller +1 more
TL;DR: A paradigm in which lncRNAs regulate transcription via chromatin modulation is supported, but new functions are steadily emerging, including post-transcriptional regulation, organization of protein complexes, cell-cell signalling and allosteric regulation of proteins.
Posted Content
Chiral Symmetry Breaking during Crystallization: Complete Chiral Purity induced by Nonlinear Autocatalysis and Recycling
TL;DR: Experimental results show a large and symmetric population of D and L crystals moving into complete chiral purity, with one of the enantiomers completely disappearing, indicating a new symmetry breaking process incompatible with the hypothesis of an initial single chiral phase or "mother crystal".
Journal ArticleDOI
Origins and evolution of viruses of eukaryotes: The ultimate modularity
TL;DR: Strikingly, evolution of all classes of eukaryotic viruses appears to have involved fusion between structural and replicative gene modules derived from different sources along with additional acquisitions of diverse genes.
Journal ArticleDOI
Structure of the human Parkin ligase domain in an autoinhibited state
Tobias Wauer,David Komander +1 more
TL;DR: The crystal structure of human Parkin spanning the Unique Parkin domain (UPD), also annotated as RING0 and RBR domains, is reported, revealing a tightly packed structure with unanticipated domain interfaces.
Journal ArticleDOI
Mechanisms of autocatalysis.
TL;DR: Minimal self-replicating systems have been studied with the aim of understanding the principles underlying living systems, allowing us to refine the authors' concepts of biological fitness and chemical stability, self-organization and emergence, and ultimately to discover how chemistry may become biology.
References
More filters
Journal ArticleDOI
Selforganization of matter and the evolution of biological macromolecules
TL;DR: The causes and effect of cause and effect, and the prerequisites of Selforganization, are explained in more detail in the I.IA.
Journal ArticleDOI
The complete atomic structure of the large ribosomal subunit at 2.4 A resolution.
TL;DR: The crystal structure of the large ribosomal subunit from Haloarcula marismortui is determined at 2.4 angstrom resolution, and it includes 2833 of the subunit's 3045 nucleotides and 27 of its 31 proteins.
Journal ArticleDOI
The RNA moiety of ribonuclease P is the catalytic subunit of the enzyme
TL;DR: The RNA moieties of ribonuclease P purified from both E. coli and B. subtilis can cleave tRNA precursor molecules in buffers containing either 60 mM Mg2+ or 10 mM MG2+ plus 1 mM spermidine, and in vitro, the RNA and protein subunits from one species can complement sub units from the other species in reconstitution experiments.
Journal ArticleDOI
PNA hybridizes to complementary oligonucleotides obeying the Watson–Crick hydrogen-bonding rules
Michael Egholm,Ole Buchardt,Leif Christensen,Carsten Behrens,Susan M. Freier,David A. Driver,Rolf H. Berg,Seog K. Kim,Bengt Nordén,Peter E. Nielsen +9 more
TL;DR: It is reported here that PNA containing all four natural nucleobases hybridizes to complementary oligonucleotides obeying the WatsonCrick base-pairing rules, and thus is a true DNA mimic in terms of base- Pair recognition.
Journal ArticleDOI
The Structural Basis of Ribosome Activity in Peptide Bond Synthesis
TL;DR: It is established that the ribosome is a ribozyme and the catalytic properties of its all-RNA active site are addressed and the mechanism of peptide bond synthesis appears to resemble the reverse of the acylation step in serine proteases.