Journal
JOURNAL OF THEORETICAL BIOLOGY
Volume 222, Issue 1, Pages 127-134Publisher
ACADEMIC PRESS LTD- ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD
DOI: 10.1016/S0022-5193(03)00020-1
Keywords
pre-RNA world; RNA world; ribose; deoxyribose; prebiotic evolution
Categories
Ask authors/readers for more resources
The historical existence of the RNA world, in which early life used RNA for both genetic information and catalytic ability, is widely accepted. However, there has been little discussion of whether protein synthesis arose before DNA or what preceded the RNA world (i.e. the pre-RNA world). We outline arguments of what route life may have taken out of the RNA world: whether DNA or protein followed. Metabolic arguments favor the possibility that RNA genomes preceded the use of DNA as the informational macromolecule. However, the opposite can also be argued based on the enhanced stability, reactivity, and solubility of 2-deoxyribose as compared to ribose. The possibility that DNA may have come before RNA is discussed, although it is a less parsimonious explanation than DNA following RNA. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available