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The Way forward for the Origin of Life: Prions and Prion-Like Molecules First Hypothesis

In this paper the hypothesis that prions and prion-like molecules could have initiated the chemical evolutionary process which led to the eventual emergence of life is reappraised. The prions first hypothesis is a specific application of the protein-first hypothesis which asserts that protein-based...

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Autores principales: Jheeta, Sohan, Chatzitheodoridis, Elias, Devine, Kevin, Block, Janice
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8467930/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34575021
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/life11090872
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author Jheeta, Sohan
Chatzitheodoridis, Elias
Devine, Kevin
Block, Janice
author_facet Jheeta, Sohan
Chatzitheodoridis, Elias
Devine, Kevin
Block, Janice
author_sort Jheeta, Sohan
collection PubMed
description In this paper the hypothesis that prions and prion-like molecules could have initiated the chemical evolutionary process which led to the eventual emergence of life is reappraised. The prions first hypothesis is a specific application of the protein-first hypothesis which asserts that protein-based chemical evolution preceded the evolution of genetic encoding processes. This genetics-first hypothesis asserts that an “RNA-world era” came before protein-based chemical evolution and rests on a singular premise that molecules such as RNA, acetyl-CoA, and NAD are relics of a long line of chemical evolutionary processes preceding the Last Universal Common Ancestor (LUCA). Nevertheless, we assert that prions and prion-like molecules may also be relics of chemical evolutionary processes preceding LUCA. To support this assertion is the observation that prions and prion-like molecules are involved in a plethora of activities in contemporary biology in both complex (eukaryotes) and primitive life forms. Furthermore, a literature survey reveals that small RNA virus genomes harbor information about prions (and amyloids). If, as has been presumed by proponents of the genetics-first hypotheses, small viruses were present during an RNA world era and were involved in some of the earliest evolutionary processes, this places prions and prion-like molecules potentially at the heart of the chemical evolutionary process whose eventual outcome was life. We deliberate on the case for prions and prion-like molecules as the frontier molecules at the dawn of evolution of living systems.
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spelling pubmed-84679302021-09-27 The Way forward for the Origin of Life: Prions and Prion-Like Molecules First Hypothesis Jheeta, Sohan Chatzitheodoridis, Elias Devine, Kevin Block, Janice Life (Basel) Article In this paper the hypothesis that prions and prion-like molecules could have initiated the chemical evolutionary process which led to the eventual emergence of life is reappraised. The prions first hypothesis is a specific application of the protein-first hypothesis which asserts that protein-based chemical evolution preceded the evolution of genetic encoding processes. This genetics-first hypothesis asserts that an “RNA-world era” came before protein-based chemical evolution and rests on a singular premise that molecules such as RNA, acetyl-CoA, and NAD are relics of a long line of chemical evolutionary processes preceding the Last Universal Common Ancestor (LUCA). Nevertheless, we assert that prions and prion-like molecules may also be relics of chemical evolutionary processes preceding LUCA. To support this assertion is the observation that prions and prion-like molecules are involved in a plethora of activities in contemporary biology in both complex (eukaryotes) and primitive life forms. Furthermore, a literature survey reveals that small RNA virus genomes harbor information about prions (and amyloids). If, as has been presumed by proponents of the genetics-first hypotheses, small viruses were present during an RNA world era and were involved in some of the earliest evolutionary processes, this places prions and prion-like molecules potentially at the heart of the chemical evolutionary process whose eventual outcome was life. We deliberate on the case for prions and prion-like molecules as the frontier molecules at the dawn of evolution of living systems. MDPI 2021-08-25 /pmc/articles/PMC8467930/ /pubmed/34575021 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/life11090872 Text en © 2021 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Jheeta, Sohan
Chatzitheodoridis, Elias
Devine, Kevin
Block, Janice
The Way forward for the Origin of Life: Prions and Prion-Like Molecules First Hypothesis
title The Way forward for the Origin of Life: Prions and Prion-Like Molecules First Hypothesis
title_full The Way forward for the Origin of Life: Prions and Prion-Like Molecules First Hypothesis
title_fullStr The Way forward for the Origin of Life: Prions and Prion-Like Molecules First Hypothesis
title_full_unstemmed The Way forward for the Origin of Life: Prions and Prion-Like Molecules First Hypothesis
title_short The Way forward for the Origin of Life: Prions and Prion-Like Molecules First Hypothesis
title_sort way forward for the origin of life: prions and prion-like molecules first hypothesis
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8467930/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34575021
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/life11090872
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