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Towards an RNA/Peptides World by the Direct RNA Template Mechanism: The Emergence of Membrane-Stabilizing Peptides in RNA-Based Protocells
How functional peptides may have arisen is a significant problem for the scenario of the RNA world. An attractive idea, the direct RNA template (DRT) hypothesis, proposes that RNA molecules can bind amino acids specifically and promote the synthesis of corresponding peptides, thereby starting the RN...
Autores principales: | , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
MDPI
2023
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9966593/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36836881 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/life13020523 |
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author | Shi, Yu Yu, Chunwu Ma, Wentao |
author_facet | Shi, Yu Yu, Chunwu Ma, Wentao |
author_sort | Shi, Yu |
collection | PubMed |
description | How functional peptides may have arisen is a significant problem for the scenario of the RNA world. An attractive idea, the direct RNA template (DRT) hypothesis, proposes that RNA molecules can bind amino acids specifically and promote the synthesis of corresponding peptides, thereby starting the RNA/peptides world. To investigate the plausibility of this idea, we modeled the emergence of a “membrane-stabilizing peptide” in RNA-based protocells—such a peptide was suggested to have appeared early in the RNA world based on experimental evidence. The computer simulation demonstrated that the protocells containing the “RNA gene” encoding this peptide may spread in the system owing to the peptide’s function. The RNA gene may either originate de novo in protocells or emerge in protocells already containing ribozymes—here we adopt a nucleotide synthetase ribozyme as an example. Furthermore, interestingly, we show that a “nucleotide synthetase peptide” encoded by RNA (also via the DRT mechanism) may substitute the nucleotide synthetase ribozyme in evolution, which may represent how “functional-takeover” in the RNA world could have occurred. Overall, we conclude that the transition from the RNA world towards an RNA/peptides world may well have been mediated by the DRT mechanism. Remarkably, the successful modeling on the emergence of membrane-stabilizing peptide in RNA-based protocells is per se significant, which may imply a “promising” way for peptides to enter the RNA world, especially considering the weak interaction between RNA and the membrane in chemistry. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-9966593 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2023 |
publisher | MDPI |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-99665932023-02-26 Towards an RNA/Peptides World by the Direct RNA Template Mechanism: The Emergence of Membrane-Stabilizing Peptides in RNA-Based Protocells Shi, Yu Yu, Chunwu Ma, Wentao Life (Basel) Article How functional peptides may have arisen is a significant problem for the scenario of the RNA world. An attractive idea, the direct RNA template (DRT) hypothesis, proposes that RNA molecules can bind amino acids specifically and promote the synthesis of corresponding peptides, thereby starting the RNA/peptides world. To investigate the plausibility of this idea, we modeled the emergence of a “membrane-stabilizing peptide” in RNA-based protocells—such a peptide was suggested to have appeared early in the RNA world based on experimental evidence. The computer simulation demonstrated that the protocells containing the “RNA gene” encoding this peptide may spread in the system owing to the peptide’s function. The RNA gene may either originate de novo in protocells or emerge in protocells already containing ribozymes—here we adopt a nucleotide synthetase ribozyme as an example. Furthermore, interestingly, we show that a “nucleotide synthetase peptide” encoded by RNA (also via the DRT mechanism) may substitute the nucleotide synthetase ribozyme in evolution, which may represent how “functional-takeover” in the RNA world could have occurred. Overall, we conclude that the transition from the RNA world towards an RNA/peptides world may well have been mediated by the DRT mechanism. Remarkably, the successful modeling on the emergence of membrane-stabilizing peptide in RNA-based protocells is per se significant, which may imply a “promising” way for peptides to enter the RNA world, especially considering the weak interaction between RNA and the membrane in chemistry. MDPI 2023-02-14 /pmc/articles/PMC9966593/ /pubmed/36836881 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/life13020523 Text en © 2023 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 Shi, Yu Yu, Chunwu Ma, Wentao Towards an RNA/Peptides World by the Direct RNA Template Mechanism: The Emergence of Membrane-Stabilizing Peptides in RNA-Based Protocells |
title | Towards an RNA/Peptides World by the Direct RNA Template Mechanism: The Emergence of Membrane-Stabilizing Peptides in RNA-Based Protocells |
title_full | Towards an RNA/Peptides World by the Direct RNA Template Mechanism: The Emergence of Membrane-Stabilizing Peptides in RNA-Based Protocells |
title_fullStr | Towards an RNA/Peptides World by the Direct RNA Template Mechanism: The Emergence of Membrane-Stabilizing Peptides in RNA-Based Protocells |
title_full_unstemmed | Towards an RNA/Peptides World by the Direct RNA Template Mechanism: The Emergence of Membrane-Stabilizing Peptides in RNA-Based Protocells |
title_short | Towards an RNA/Peptides World by the Direct RNA Template Mechanism: The Emergence of Membrane-Stabilizing Peptides in RNA-Based Protocells |
title_sort | towards an rna/peptides world by the direct rna template mechanism: the emergence of membrane-stabilizing peptides in rna-based protocells |
topic | Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9966593/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36836881 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/life13020523 |
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