Prebiotic Assembly of Cloverleaf tRNA, Its Aminoacylation and the Origin of Coding, Inferred from Acceptor Stem Coding-Triplets
tRNA is a key component in life’s most fundamental process, the translation of the instructions contained in mRNA into proteins. Its role had to be executed as soon as the earliest translation emerged, but the questions of the prebiotic tRNA materialization, aminoacylation, and the origin of the cod...
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
MDPI AG
2022-12-01
|
| Series: | International Journal of Molecular Sciences |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/23/24/15756 |
| _version_ | 1797457297085038592 |
|---|---|
| author | Ilana Agmon |
| author_facet | Ilana Agmon |
| author_sort | Ilana Agmon |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | tRNA is a key component in life’s most fundamental process, the translation of the instructions contained in mRNA into proteins. Its role had to be executed as soon as the earliest translation emerged, but the questions of the prebiotic tRNA materialization, aminoacylation, and the origin of the coding triplets it carries are still open. Here, these questions are addressed by utilizing a distinct pattern of coding triplets highly conserved in the acceptor stems from the modern bacterial tRNAs of five early-emerging amino acids. Self-assembly of several copies of a short RNA oligonucleotide that carries a related pattern of coding triplets, via a simple and statistically feasible process, is suggested to result in a proto-tRNA model highly compatible with the cloverleaf secondary structure of the modern tRNA. Furthermore, these stem coding triplets evoke the possibility that they were involved in self-aminoacylation of proto-tRNAs prior to the emergence of the earliest synthetases, a process proposed to underlie the formation of the genetic code. Being capable of autonomous materialization and of self-aminoacylation, this verifiable model of the proto-tRNA advent adds principal components to an initial set of molecules and processes that may have led, exclusively through natural means, to the emergence of life. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T16:20:11Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-e65ebf6a890c4a3598a84e8fe4760731 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1661-6596 1422-0067 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T16:20:11Z |
| publishDate | 2022-12-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | International Journal of Molecular Sciences |
| spelling | doaj.art-e65ebf6a890c4a3598a84e8fe47607312023-11-24T15:27:19ZengMDPI AGInternational Journal of Molecular Sciences1661-65961422-00672022-12-0123241575610.3390/ijms232415756Prebiotic Assembly of Cloverleaf tRNA, Its Aminoacylation and the Origin of Coding, Inferred from Acceptor Stem Coding-TripletsIlana Agmon0Schulich Faculty of Chemistry, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa 3200003, IsraeltRNA is a key component in life’s most fundamental process, the translation of the instructions contained in mRNA into proteins. Its role had to be executed as soon as the earliest translation emerged, but the questions of the prebiotic tRNA materialization, aminoacylation, and the origin of the coding triplets it carries are still open. Here, these questions are addressed by utilizing a distinct pattern of coding triplets highly conserved in the acceptor stems from the modern bacterial tRNAs of five early-emerging amino acids. Self-assembly of several copies of a short RNA oligonucleotide that carries a related pattern of coding triplets, via a simple and statistically feasible process, is suggested to result in a proto-tRNA model highly compatible with the cloverleaf secondary structure of the modern tRNA. Furthermore, these stem coding triplets evoke the possibility that they were involved in self-aminoacylation of proto-tRNAs prior to the emergence of the earliest synthetases, a process proposed to underlie the formation of the genetic code. Being capable of autonomous materialization and of self-aminoacylation, this verifiable model of the proto-tRNA advent adds principal components to an initial set of molecules and processes that may have led, exclusively through natural means, to the emergence of life.https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/23/24/15756genetic codeorigin of lifeprebiotic aminoacylationstereochemical hypothesistranslationtRNA evolution |
| spellingShingle | Ilana Agmon Prebiotic Assembly of Cloverleaf tRNA, Its Aminoacylation and the Origin of Coding, Inferred from Acceptor Stem Coding-Triplets International Journal of Molecular Sciences genetic code origin of life prebiotic aminoacylation stereochemical hypothesis translation tRNA evolution |
| title | Prebiotic Assembly of Cloverleaf tRNA, Its Aminoacylation and the Origin of Coding, Inferred from Acceptor Stem Coding-Triplets |
| title_full | Prebiotic Assembly of Cloverleaf tRNA, Its Aminoacylation and the Origin of Coding, Inferred from Acceptor Stem Coding-Triplets |
| title_fullStr | Prebiotic Assembly of Cloverleaf tRNA, Its Aminoacylation and the Origin of Coding, Inferred from Acceptor Stem Coding-Triplets |
| title_full_unstemmed | Prebiotic Assembly of Cloverleaf tRNA, Its Aminoacylation and the Origin of Coding, Inferred from Acceptor Stem Coding-Triplets |
| title_short | Prebiotic Assembly of Cloverleaf tRNA, Its Aminoacylation and the Origin of Coding, Inferred from Acceptor Stem Coding-Triplets |
| title_sort | prebiotic assembly of cloverleaf trna its aminoacylation and the origin of coding inferred from acceptor stem coding triplets |
| topic | genetic code origin of life prebiotic aminoacylation stereochemical hypothesis translation tRNA evolution |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/23/24/15756 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT ilanaagmon prebioticassemblyofcloverleaftrnaitsaminoacylationandtheoriginofcodinginferredfromacceptorstemcodingtriplets |