tRNA sequences can assemble into a replicator

Kühnlein, Alexandra ; Lanzmich, Simon A. und Braun, Dieter (2021): tRNA sequences can assemble into a replicator. In: elife, Bd. 10, e63431

Abstract

Can replication and translation emerge in a single mechanism via self-assembly? The key molecule, transfer RNA (tRNA), is one of the most ancient molecules and contains the genetic code. Our experiments show how a pool of oligonucleotides, adapted with minor mutations from tRNA, spontaneously formed molecular assemblies. They replicated information autonomously using only reversible hybridization under thermal oscillations. A pool of cross-complementary hairpins self-selected by agglomeration and sedimented under gravity. The metastable DNA hairpins bound to a template, consisting of one half of the hairpin assembly, and then interconnected by hybridization. Thermal oscillations separated replicates from their templates and drove an exponential, cross-catalytic replication. The molecular assembly could encode and replicate binary sequence information and reach a fidelity of 90 % per nucleotide. This mechanism of a replicating self-assembly of tRNA-like sequences indicates that the translation to proteins could be linked closer to molecular replication than previously thought.

• Dokumententyp: Zeitschriftenartikel
• EU Funded Grant Agreement Number: 787356
• EU-Projekte: Horizon 2020 > ERC Grants > ERC Advanced Grant > ERC Grant 787356: EvoTrap - Mechanisms to emerge and replicate the first sequence information of life in geothermal microfluidics of early Earth
• Fakultät: Physik
• Fakultätsübergreifende Einrichtungen: Center for NanoScience (CENS)
• Themengebiete: 500 Naturwissenschaften und Mathematik > 530 Physik
• ISSN: 2050-084X
• Sprache: Englisch