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Cofactors are Remnants of Life’s Origin and Early Evolution
The RNA World is one of the most widely accepted hypotheses explaining the origin of the genetic system used by all organisms today. It proposes that the tripartite system of DNA, RNA, and proteins was preceded by one consisting solely of RNA, which both stored genetic information and performed the...
Autores principales: | , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
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Springer US
2021
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Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7982383/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33547911 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00239-020-09988-4 |
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author | Goldman, Aaron D. Kacar, Betul |
author_facet | Goldman, Aaron D. Kacar, Betul |
author_sort | Goldman, Aaron D. |
collection | PubMed |
description | The RNA World is one of the most widely accepted hypotheses explaining the origin of the genetic system used by all organisms today. It proposes that the tripartite system of DNA, RNA, and proteins was preceded by one consisting solely of RNA, which both stored genetic information and performed the molecular functions encoded by that genetic information. Current research into a potential RNA World revolves around the catalytic properties of RNA-based enzymes, or ribozymes. Well before the discovery of ribozymes, Harold White proposed that evidence for a precursor RNA world could be found within modern proteins in the form of coenzymes, the majority of which contain nucleobases or nucleoside moieties, such as Coenzyme A and S-adenosyl methionine, or are themselves nucleotides, such as ATP and NADH (a dinucleotide). These coenzymes, White suggested, had been the catalytic active sites of ancient ribozymes, which transitioned to their current forms after the surrounding ribozyme scaffolds had been replaced by protein apoenzymes during the evolution of translation. Since its proposal four decades ago, this groundbreaking hypothesis has garnered support from several different research disciplines and motivated similar hypotheses about other classes of cofactors, most notably iron-sulfur cluster cofactors as remnants of the geochemical setting of the origin of life. Evidence from prebiotic geochemistry, ribozyme biochemistry, and evolutionary biology, increasingly supports these hypotheses. Certain coenzymes and cofactors may bridge modern biology with the past and can thus provide insights into the elusive and poorly-recorded period of the origin and early evolution of life. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-7982383 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2021 |
publisher | Springer US |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-79823832021-04-12 Cofactors are Remnants of Life’s Origin and Early Evolution Goldman, Aaron D. Kacar, Betul J Mol Evol Commentary The RNA World is one of the most widely accepted hypotheses explaining the origin of the genetic system used by all organisms today. It proposes that the tripartite system of DNA, RNA, and proteins was preceded by one consisting solely of RNA, which both stored genetic information and performed the molecular functions encoded by that genetic information. Current research into a potential RNA World revolves around the catalytic properties of RNA-based enzymes, or ribozymes. Well before the discovery of ribozymes, Harold White proposed that evidence for a precursor RNA world could be found within modern proteins in the form of coenzymes, the majority of which contain nucleobases or nucleoside moieties, such as Coenzyme A and S-adenosyl methionine, or are themselves nucleotides, such as ATP and NADH (a dinucleotide). These coenzymes, White suggested, had been the catalytic active sites of ancient ribozymes, which transitioned to their current forms after the surrounding ribozyme scaffolds had been replaced by protein apoenzymes during the evolution of translation. Since its proposal four decades ago, this groundbreaking hypothesis has garnered support from several different research disciplines and motivated similar hypotheses about other classes of cofactors, most notably iron-sulfur cluster cofactors as remnants of the geochemical setting of the origin of life. Evidence from prebiotic geochemistry, ribozyme biochemistry, and evolutionary biology, increasingly supports these hypotheses. Certain coenzymes and cofactors may bridge modern biology with the past and can thus provide insights into the elusive and poorly-recorded period of the origin and early evolution of life. Springer US 2021-02-06 2021 /pmc/articles/PMC7982383/ /pubmed/33547911 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00239-020-09988-4 Text en © The Author(s) 2021 Open AccessThis article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. |
spellingShingle | Commentary Goldman, Aaron D. Kacar, Betul Cofactors are Remnants of Life’s Origin and Early Evolution |
title | Cofactors are Remnants of Life’s Origin and Early Evolution |
title_full | Cofactors are Remnants of Life’s Origin and Early Evolution |
title_fullStr | Cofactors are Remnants of Life’s Origin and Early Evolution |
title_full_unstemmed | Cofactors are Remnants of Life’s Origin and Early Evolution |
title_short | Cofactors are Remnants of Life’s Origin and Early Evolution |
title_sort | cofactors are remnants of life’s origin and early evolution |
topic | Commentary |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7982383/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33547911 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00239-020-09988-4 |
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