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The progene hypothesis: the nucleoprotein world and how life began

ABSTRACT: In this article, I review the results of studies on the origin of life distinct from the popular RNA world hypothesis. The alternate scenario postulates the origin of the first bimolecular genetic system (a polynucleotide gene and a polypeptide processive polymerase) with simultaneous repl...

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Autor principal: Altstein, Anatoly D.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2015
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4662029/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26612610
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13062-015-0096-z
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author Altstein, Anatoly D.
author_facet Altstein, Anatoly D.
author_sort Altstein, Anatoly D.
collection PubMed
description ABSTRACT: In this article, I review the results of studies on the origin of life distinct from the popular RNA world hypothesis. The alternate scenario postulates the origin of the first bimolecular genetic system (a polynucleotide gene and a polypeptide processive polymerase) with simultaneous replication and translation and includes the following key features: 1. The bimolecular genetic system emerges not from mononucleotides and monoamino acids, but from progenes, namely, trinucleotides aminoacylated on 3′–end by a non-random amino acid (NpNpNp ~ pX ~ Aa, where N—deoxyribo- or ribonucleoside, p—phosphate, X—a bifunctional agent, for example ribose, Aa—amino acid, ~ macroerge bond). Progenes are used as substrates for simultaneous synthesis of a polynucleotide and a polypeptide. Growth of the system is controlled by the growing polypeptide, and the bimolecular genetic system emerges as an extremely rare event. The first living being (virus-like organism protoviroid, Protoviroidum primum) arises and reproduces in prebiotic liposome-like structures using progenes. A population of protoviroids possessing the genetic system evolves in accordance with the Darwinian principle. Early evolution from protoviroid world to protocell world is shortly described. 2. The progene forming mechanism (NpNp + Np ~ pX ~ Aa) makes it possible to explain the emergence of the prebiotic physicochemical group genetic code, as well as the selection of organic compounds for the future genetic system from the racemic environment. 3. The protoviroid is reproduced on a progene basis via replicative transcription-translation (RTT, the first molecular genetic process) that is similar to its modern counterparts. Nothing is required for the emergence and reproduction of the protoviroid except for progenes and conditions for their formation. 4. The general scheme of early evolution is as follows: prebiotic world → protoviroid (nucleoprotein) world → protocell (DNA-RNA-protein) world → LUCA (Last Universal Common Ancestor) → modern cell world. This scheme exclude the existence of an independent RNA world as predecessor of the cellular world. REVIEWERS: Dr. Thomas Dandekar, Dr. Bojan Zagrovic and Dr. Anthony Poole
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spelling pubmed-46620292015-11-28 The progene hypothesis: the nucleoprotein world and how life began Altstein, Anatoly D. Biol Direct Review ABSTRACT: In this article, I review the results of studies on the origin of life distinct from the popular RNA world hypothesis. The alternate scenario postulates the origin of the first bimolecular genetic system (a polynucleotide gene and a polypeptide processive polymerase) with simultaneous replication and translation and includes the following key features: 1. The bimolecular genetic system emerges not from mononucleotides and monoamino acids, but from progenes, namely, trinucleotides aminoacylated on 3′–end by a non-random amino acid (NpNpNp ~ pX ~ Aa, where N—deoxyribo- or ribonucleoside, p—phosphate, X—a bifunctional agent, for example ribose, Aa—amino acid, ~ macroerge bond). Progenes are used as substrates for simultaneous synthesis of a polynucleotide and a polypeptide. Growth of the system is controlled by the growing polypeptide, and the bimolecular genetic system emerges as an extremely rare event. The first living being (virus-like organism protoviroid, Protoviroidum primum) arises and reproduces in prebiotic liposome-like structures using progenes. A population of protoviroids possessing the genetic system evolves in accordance with the Darwinian principle. Early evolution from protoviroid world to protocell world is shortly described. 2. The progene forming mechanism (NpNp + Np ~ pX ~ Aa) makes it possible to explain the emergence of the prebiotic physicochemical group genetic code, as well as the selection of organic compounds for the future genetic system from the racemic environment. 3. The protoviroid is reproduced on a progene basis via replicative transcription-translation (RTT, the first molecular genetic process) that is similar to its modern counterparts. Nothing is required for the emergence and reproduction of the protoviroid except for progenes and conditions for their formation. 4. The general scheme of early evolution is as follows: prebiotic world → protoviroid (nucleoprotein) world → protocell (DNA-RNA-protein) world → LUCA (Last Universal Common Ancestor) → modern cell world. This scheme exclude the existence of an independent RNA world as predecessor of the cellular world. REVIEWERS: Dr. Thomas Dandekar, Dr. Bojan Zagrovic and Dr. Anthony Poole BioMed Central 2015-11-26 /pmc/articles/PMC4662029/ /pubmed/26612610 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13062-015-0096-z Text en © Altstein. 2015 Open AccessThis article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.
spellingShingle Review
Altstein, Anatoly D.
The progene hypothesis: the nucleoprotein world and how life began
title The progene hypothesis: the nucleoprotein world and how life began
title_full The progene hypothesis: the nucleoprotein world and how life began
title_fullStr The progene hypothesis: the nucleoprotein world and how life began
title_full_unstemmed The progene hypothesis: the nucleoprotein world and how life began
title_short The progene hypothesis: the nucleoprotein world and how life began
title_sort progene hypothesis: the nucleoprotein world and how life began
topic Review
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4662029/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26612610
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13062-015-0096-z
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