Briones, Carlos, Stich, Michael and Manrubia, Susanna C. (2009). The dawn of the RNA World:toward functional complexity through ligation of random RNA oligomers. RNA, 15 (5), pp. 743-749.
Abstract
A main unsolved problem in the RNA World scenario for the origin of life is how a template-dependent RNA polymerase ribozyme emerged from short RNA oligomers obtained by random polymerization on mineral surfaces. A number of computational studies have shown that the structural repertoire yielded by that process is dominated by topologically simple structures, notably hairpin-like ones. A fraction of these could display RNA ligase activity and catalyze the assembly of larger, eventually functional RNA molecules retaining their previous modular structure: molecular complexity increases but template replication is absent. This allows us to build up a stepwise model of ligation- based, modular evolution that could pave the way to the emergence of a ribozyme with RNA replicase activity, step at which information-driven Darwinian evolution would be triggered.
Publication DOI: | https://doi.org/10.1261/rna.1488609 |
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Divisions: | College of Engineering & Physical Sciences > Systems analytics research institute (SARI) |
Additional Information: | Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial 3.0 Unported License (CC-BY-NC), as described at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/. This license permits non-commercial use, including reproduction, adaptation, and distribution of the article provided the original author and source are credited. |
Uncontrolled Keywords: | RNA folding,structural motif,modular evolution,RNA ligation,hairpin ribozyme,RNA polymerase |
Publication ISSN: | 1469-9001 |
Last Modified: | 05 Aug 2024 12:14 |
Date Deposited: | 23 Sep 2013 09:12 |
Full Text Link: |
http://rnajourn ... ontent/15/5/743 |
Related URLs: |
http://www.scop ... tnerID=8YFLogxK
(Scopus URL) |
PURE Output Type: | Article |
Published Date: | 2009-05 |
Published Online Date: | 2009-03-24 |
Authors: |
Briones, Carlos
Stich, Michael ( ![]() Manrubia, Susanna C. |