Researchers create custom RNA catalyst
from the RNA-World dept.
Researchers at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research have created a custom-designed RNA catalyst, or a ribozyme. The ribozyme can use information from a template RNA to make a third, new RNA. It functions with more than 95 percent accuracy, and most importantly, its ability is not restricted by the length or the exact sequence of letters in the original template. The ribozyme can extend an RNA strand, adding up to 14 nucleotides, or letters, to make up more than a complete turn of an RNA helix. The study also provides some insights into the possibility that RNA catalysts were important in the early evolution of living systems. The results are described in the 18 May 2001 issue of Science.
June 24th, 2001 at 3:53 PM
~2% of the way to life
Wow. Although I didn't see a length specified in the article, if you assume it's a little under a thousand units long (a plausible value for catalytic activity) and it can replicate 14 units, then its about 2% of the way to a two phase self-replicating system.
Now, some people have a hard time accepting this as a model of what actually happened, but if you do a little math, taking into account the size of the oceans, the amount of time involved, and the high probability of earlier, less accurate proto-catalysts (molecules which favour the conditions, however slightly–remember that "catalyst" is a fuzzy category), it seems very plausible.
Coolness.
– MarkusQ
April 30th, 2009 at 3:46 PM
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