Did transfer RNA evolve from a ribozyme? An in-silico study
Blue Ridge Community and Technical College, Martinsburg, WV, USA.
Research Article
International Journal of Frontiers in Science and Technology Research, 2022, 02(02), 024–030.
Article DOI: 10.53294/ijfstr.2022.2.2.0037
Publication history:
Received on 18 April 2022; revised on 22 May 2022; accepted on 25 May 2022
Abstract:
Transfer RNA (tRNA) is widely believed to be one of the oldest, if not the oldest nucleic acid on Earth. Concurrently, ribozymes, RNA-only catalysts that perform many of the same functions as present-day protein enzymes, are also thought to be just as ancient. While the position has been posited that tRNA, nature’s chief aminoacylator of amino acids with the assistance of aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase (aaRS) protein enzymes, evolved from a self-aminoacylating ribozyme, no studies have been performed, to the best of this author’s knowledge, searching for nucleotide sequence correlation between the two; such correlation would indicate the conservation of part or all of such a ribozyme in modern-day tRNA. To that end, an in-silico study utilizing several databases was performed to search for a high percentage of highly conserved nucleotide sequences in archaea, believed to be the most ancient of organisms, with very successful results and their implications discussed here.
Keywords:
tRNA; Ribozyme; Nucleic Acid; Evolution; aaRS; In-silico
Full text article in PDF:
Copyright information:
Copyright © 2022 Author(s) retain the copyright of this article. This article is published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Liscense 4.0