scholarly journals The Origin and Early Evolution of Life: Prebiotic Chemistry, the Pre-RNA World, and Time

Cell ◽  
1996 ◽  
Vol 85 (6) ◽  
pp. 793-798 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antonio Lazcano ◽  
Stanley L Miller
Keyword(s):  
Prebiotic Chemistry ◽  
Rna World ◽  
Early Evolution ◽  
Evolution Of Life

scholarly journals The Origin and Early Evolution of Life: Prebiotic Chemistry

Life ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 73 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michele Fiore
Keyword(s):  
Prebiotic Chemistry ◽  
Early Evolution ◽  
Cellular Life ◽  
Evolution Of Life ◽  
Life On Earth

Microfossil evidence indicates that cellular life on Earth emerged during the Paleoarchean era be-tween 3 [...]

scholarly journals Cofactors are Remnants of Life’s Origin and Early Evolution

2021 ◽  
Vol 89 (3) ◽  
pp. 127-133 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aaron D. Goldman ◽  
Betul Kacar
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Information ◽  
Evolutionary Biology ◽  
Active Sites ◽  
Rna World ◽  
Genetic System ◽  
Early Evolution ◽  
Modern Biology ◽  
Iron Sulfur Cluster ◽  
Adenosyl Methionine ◽  
Precursor Rna

AbstractThe 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sites of ancient ribozymes, which transitioned to their current forms after the surrounding ribozyme scaffolds had been replaced by protein apoenzymes during the evolution of translation.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.

Mineral photoelectrons and their implications for the origin and early evolution of life on Earth

2014 ◽  
Vol 57 (5) ◽  
pp. 897-902 ◽  
Author(s):  
AnHuai Lu ◽  
Xin Wang ◽  
Yan Li ◽  
HongRui Ding ◽  
ChangQiu Wang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Early Evolution ◽  
Evolution Of Life ◽  
Life On Earth

scholarly journals RNA Back and Forth: Looking through Ribozyme and Viroid Motifs

Viruses ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 283 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marie-Christine Maurel ◽  
Fabrice Leclerc ◽  
Jacques Vergne ◽  
Giuseppe Zaccai
Keyword(s):  
Rna World ◽  
Hammerhead Ribozyme ◽  
Intramolecular Interactions ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Widespread Occurrence ◽  
Living Fossils ◽  
Evolution Of Life ◽  
Catalytically Active ◽  
World Hypothesis ◽  
Rna World Hypothesis

Current cellular facts allow us to follow the link from chemical to biochemical metabolites, from the ancient to the modern world. In this context, the “RNA world” hypothesis proposes that early in the evolution of life, the ribozyme was responsible for the storage and transfer of genetic information and for the catalysis of biochemical reactions. Accordingly, the hammerhead ribozyme (HHR) and the hairpin ribozyme belong to a family of endonucleolytic RNAs performing self-cleavage that might occur during replication. Furthermore, regarding the widespread occurrence of HHRs in several genomes of modern organisms (from mammals to small parasites and elsewhere), these small ribozymes have been regarded as living fossils of a primitive RNA world. They fold into 3D structures that generally require long-range intramolecular interactions to adopt the catalytically active conformation under specific physicochemical conditions. By studying viroids as plausible remains of ancient RNA, we recently demonstrated that they replicate in non-specific hosts, emphasizing their adaptability to different environments, which enhanced their survival probability over the ages. All these results exemplify ubiquitous features of life. Those are the structural and functional versatility of small RNAs, ribozymes, and viroids, as well as their diversity and adaptability to various extreme conditions. All these traits must have originated in early life to generate novel RNA populations.

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