期刊
JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR EVOLUTION
卷 89, 期 3, 页码 127-133出版社
SPRINGER
DOI: 10.1007/s00239-020-09988-4
关键词
Cofactors; Coenzymes; RNA world; Origin of life; Ancient life; Early evolution
资金
- National Science Foundation [1724090]
- NASA Early Career Faculty Award
- University of Arizona Small Grants Program
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration [80NSSC19M0069]
- Direct For Biological Sciences
- Emerging Frontiers [1724090] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
The RNA World hypothesis suggests that the current genetic system of all organisms evolved from a system solely consisting of RNA, with research focusing on the catalytic properties of RNA-based enzymes. Coenzymes, containing nucleobases or nucleoside moieties, are believed to have been the catalytic active sites of ancient ribozymes before transitioning into their current forms as protein apoenzymes during evolution. This groundbreaking hypothesis has gained support from various research disciplines and has sparked similar hypotheses about other classes of cofactors.
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sites of ancient ribozymes, which transitioned to their current forms after the surrounding ribozyme scaffolds had been replaced by protein apoenzymes during the evolution of translation.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.
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