Journal
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Volume 118, Issue 21, Pages -Publisher
NATL ACAD SCIENCES
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2025054118
Keywords
protocell; in vitro evolution; ribozyme
Categories
Funding
- Simons Foundation [290356FY18]
- Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Program
- Postdoctoral Research Abroad Program of the Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan [1072917I564002]
- UCSB
- University of California, Office of the President
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The encapsulation of RNA ribozymes inside protocells generally increases their activity, with highly active ribozymes benefiting disproportionately more from encapsulation. This asymmetry in fitness gain broadens the distribution of fitness in the system. Encapsulation not only provides compartmentalization function, but also promotes activity and evolutionary adaptation during the origin of life.
Functional biomolecules, such as RNA, encapsulated inside a protocellular membrane are believed to have comprised a very early, critical stage in the evolution of life, since membrane vesicles allow selective permeability and create a unit of selection enabling cooperative phenotypes. The biophysical environment inside a protocell would differ fundamentally from bulk solution due to the microscopic confinement. However, the effect of the encapsulated environment on ribozyme evolution has not been previously studied experimentally. Here, we examine the effect of encapsulation inside model protocells on the self-aminoacylation activity of tens of thousands of RNA sequences using a high-throughput sequencing assay. We find that encapsulation of these ribozymes generally increases their activity, giving encapsulated sequences an advantage over nonencapsulated sequences in an amphiphile-rich environment. In addition, highly active ribozymes benefit disproportionately more from encapsulation. The asymmetry in fitness gain broadens the distribution of fitness in the system. Consistent with Fisher's fundamental theorem of natural selection, encapsulation therefore leads to faster adaptation when the RNAs are encapsulated inside a protocell during in vitro selection. Thus, protocells would not only provide a compartmentalization function but also promote activity and evolutionary adaptation during the origin of life.
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