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Modelling evolution on design-by-contract predicts an origin of Life through an abiotic double-stranded RNA world

BACKGROUND: It is generally believed that life first evolved from single-stranded RNA (ssRNA) that both stored genetic information and catalyzed the reactions required for self-replication. PRESENTATION OF THE HYPOTHESIS: By modeling early genome evolution on the engineering paradigm design-by-contr...

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Autor principal: de Roos, Albert DG
Formato: Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2007
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1866227/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17466073
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1745-6150-2-12
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author de Roos, Albert DG
author_facet de Roos, Albert DG
author_sort de Roos, Albert DG
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: It is generally believed that life first evolved from single-stranded RNA (ssRNA) that both stored genetic information and catalyzed the reactions required for self-replication. PRESENTATION OF THE HYPOTHESIS: By modeling early genome evolution on the engineering paradigm design-by-contract, an alternative scenario is presented in which life started with the appearance of double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) as an informational storage molecule while catalytic single-stranded RNA was derived from this dsRNA template later in evolution. TESTING THE HYPOTHESIS: It was investigated whether this scenario could be implemented mechanistically by starting with abiotic processes. Double-stranded RNA could be formed abiotically by hybridization of oligoribonucleotides that are subsequently non-enzymatically ligated into a double-stranded chain. Thermal cycling driven by the diurnal temperature cycles could then replicate this dsRNA when strands of dsRNA separate and later rehybridize and ligate to reform dsRNA. A temperature-dependent partial replication of specific regions of dsRNA could produce the first template-based generation of catalytic ssRNA, similar to the developmental gene transcription process. Replacement of these abiotic processes by enzymatic processes would guarantee functional continuity. Further transition from a dsRNA to a dsDNA world could be based on minor mutations in template and substrate recognition sites of an RNA polymerase and would leave all existing processes intact. IMPLICATIONS OF THE HYPOTHESIS: Modeling evolution on a design pattern, the 'dsRNA first' hypothesis can provide an alternative mechanistic evolutionary scenario for the origin of our genome that preserves functional continuity. REVIEWERS: This article was reviewed by Anthony Poole, Eugene Koonin and Eugene Shakhnovich
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spelling pubmed-18662272007-05-09 Modelling evolution on design-by-contract predicts an origin of Life through an abiotic double-stranded RNA world de Roos, Albert DG Biol Direct Hypothesis BACKGROUND: It is generally believed that life first evolved from single-stranded RNA (ssRNA) that both stored genetic information and catalyzed the reactions required for self-replication. PRESENTATION OF THE HYPOTHESIS: By modeling early genome evolution on the engineering paradigm design-by-contract, an alternative scenario is presented in which life started with the appearance of double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) as an informational storage molecule while catalytic single-stranded RNA was derived from this dsRNA template later in evolution. TESTING THE HYPOTHESIS: It was investigated whether this scenario could be implemented mechanistically by starting with abiotic processes. Double-stranded RNA could be formed abiotically by hybridization of oligoribonucleotides that are subsequently non-enzymatically ligated into a double-stranded chain. Thermal cycling driven by the diurnal temperature cycles could then replicate this dsRNA when strands of dsRNA separate and later rehybridize and ligate to reform dsRNA. A temperature-dependent partial replication of specific regions of dsRNA could produce the first template-based generation of catalytic ssRNA, similar to the developmental gene transcription process. Replacement of these abiotic processes by enzymatic processes would guarantee functional continuity. Further transition from a dsRNA to a dsDNA world could be based on minor mutations in template and substrate recognition sites of an RNA polymerase and would leave all existing processes intact. IMPLICATIONS OF THE HYPOTHESIS: Modeling evolution on a design pattern, the 'dsRNA first' hypothesis can provide an alternative mechanistic evolutionary scenario for the origin of our genome that preserves functional continuity. REVIEWERS: This article was reviewed by Anthony Poole, Eugene Koonin and Eugene Shakhnovich BioMed Central 2007-04-27 /pmc/articles/PMC1866227/ /pubmed/17466073 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1745-6150-2-12 Text en Copyright © 2007 de Roos; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License ( (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0) ), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Hypothesis
de Roos, Albert DG
Modelling evolution on design-by-contract predicts an origin of Life through an abiotic double-stranded RNA world
title Modelling evolution on design-by-contract predicts an origin of Life through an abiotic double-stranded RNA world
title_full Modelling evolution on design-by-contract predicts an origin of Life through an abiotic double-stranded RNA world
title_fullStr Modelling evolution on design-by-contract predicts an origin of Life through an abiotic double-stranded RNA world
title_full_unstemmed Modelling evolution on design-by-contract predicts an origin of Life through an abiotic double-stranded RNA world
title_short Modelling evolution on design-by-contract predicts an origin of Life through an abiotic double-stranded RNA world
title_sort modelling evolution on design-by-contract predicts an origin of life through an abiotic double-stranded rna world
topic Hypothesis
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1866227/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17466073
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1745-6150-2-12
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