TY - JOUR
T1 - The importance of prebiotic chemistry in the RNA World
AU - Hughes, Randall A.
AU - Robertson, Michael P.
AU - Ellington, Andrew D.
AU - Levy, Matthew
N1 - Funding Information:
We would like to thank the NIH (8R01EB002043) and the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (TDT 003658-0611) for support.
PY - 2004/12
Y1 - 2004/12
N2 - In vitro selection experiments have clearly demonstrated that RNA can perform many of the functions necessary to support an RNA world. Moreover, it appears that novel functions could have readily evolved from existing functional RNA molecules. Therefore, diverse molecular ecosystems could potentially have arisen from an initial, small population of functional replicators. These findings suggest that the sequences of living systems may have been determined in part by chance occurrences at origins. Any extrapolations linking sequences (as opposed to functions) obtained in the laboratory to what may have occurred ca. 4 billion years ago are tenuous at best. Thus, perhaps the best way to understand origins is not by examining relatively unconstrained sequence information, but by examining the inherent constraints imposed by prebiotic chemistry.
AB - In vitro selection experiments have clearly demonstrated that RNA can perform many of the functions necessary to support an RNA world. Moreover, it appears that novel functions could have readily evolved from existing functional RNA molecules. Therefore, diverse molecular ecosystems could potentially have arisen from an initial, small population of functional replicators. These findings suggest that the sequences of living systems may have been determined in part by chance occurrences at origins. Any extrapolations linking sequences (as opposed to functions) obtained in the laboratory to what may have occurred ca. 4 billion years ago are tenuous at best. Thus, perhaps the best way to understand origins is not by examining relatively unconstrained sequence information, but by examining the inherent constraints imposed by prebiotic chemistry.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.cbpa.2004.09.007
DO - 10.1016/j.cbpa.2004.09.007
M3 - Review article
C2 - 15556407
AN - SCOPUS:8844223317
SN - 1367-5931
VL - 8
SP - 629
EP - 633
JO - Current Opinion in Chemical Biology
JF - Current Opinion in Chemical Biology
IS - 6
ER -