ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9582-6304; Lanzmich, Simon A. and Braun, Dieter
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7751-1448
(2021):
tRNA sequences can assemble into a replicator.
In: elife, Vol. 10, e63431
[PDF, 902kB]


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.
Item Type: | Journal article |
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EU Funded Grant Agreement Number: | 787356 |
EU Projects: | 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 |
Faculties: | Physics |
Research Centers: | Center for NanoScience (CENS) |
Subjects: | 500 Science > 530 Physics |
URN: | urn:nbn:de:bvb:19-epub-76082-1 |
ISSN: | 2050-084X |
Language: | English |
Item ID: | 76082 |
Date Deposited: | 31. May 2021, 05:47 |
Last Modified: | 20. Oct 2023, 17:46 |