Version 1
: Received: 3 May 2023 / Approved: 6 May 2023 / Online: 6 May 2023 (10:26:26 CEST)
How to cite:
Shirokikh, N. Pathways of Early Evolution From the Perspectives of a Riboreplisome – The Ultimate RNA Machine of Life. Preprints2023, 2023050415. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202305.0415.v1
Shirokikh, N. Pathways of Early Evolution From the Perspectives of a Riboreplisome – The Ultimate RNA Machine of Life. Preprints 2023, 2023050415. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202305.0415.v1
Shirokikh, N. Pathways of Early Evolution From the Perspectives of a Riboreplisome – The Ultimate RNA Machine of Life. Preprints2023, 2023050415. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202305.0415.v1
APA Style
Shirokikh, N. (2023). Pathways of Early Evolution From the Perspectives of a Riboreplisome – The Ultimate RNA Machine of Life. Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202305.0415.v1
Chicago/Turabian Style
Shirokikh, N. 2023 "Pathways of Early Evolution From the Perspectives of a Riboreplisome – The Ultimate RNA Machine of Life" Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202305.0415.v1
Abstract
Translation of the genetic code into proteins is the main process across all life and ribosomes are ancient cellular machines uniquely enabling this information transformation. We provide a brief overview of the recent advances in linking the ribosomal structure and evolution. Based on these insights into ribosomal organisation across time, we propose that early replication and protein biosynthesis functions were inseparable and in fact were performed by the same ancient RNA molecule, the riboreplisome. Riboreplisome hypothesis helps to address issues of non-Darwinian evolution and complicated starting point that are characteristic to the RNA world, protein world and RNA:protein mixed co-development theories. We suggest that the riboreplisome is the missing link and a molecular machine connecting chemical and biological evolution paths, by being capable of basic genetic and feature selection functions in a cell- or cell-free setting. The riboreplisome hypothesis allows ease of sequential, genetically uninterrupted emergence and sophistication of the genetic code and its decoding machinery, and provides plausible explanations to the origins of the three main RNA types involved in the decoding: the ribosomal, transfer and messenger RNA. Furthermore, riboreplisome can help explaining the co-evolution of aminoacylation machinery, the driving force behind selective gene transcription and expression, and the cell-like compartmentalisation. While we may never findthe original riboreplisome again, we might continue to discover different molecular remnants of its prior existence across the existing biological RNA, which, once identified or resurrected, can be useful in synthetic biology applications.
Keywords
evolution of the ribosome; evolution of life; genetic code; evolution of translation; origins of protein biosynthesis; RNA machines; RNA world; origin of life
Subject
Biology and Life Sciences, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
