Il ribosoma 'anello mancante' nella abiogenesi?

[Darwin]

Bell'articolo che analizza la possibilità che il ribosoma sia il primo 'autoreplicatore' intermedio fra le macromolecole organiche e LUCA.

The ribosome as a missing link in the evolution of life

Abstract

Many steps in the evolution of cellular life are still mysterious. We suggest that the ribosome may represent one important missing link between compositional (or metabolism-first), RNA-world (or genes-first) and cellular (last universal common ancestor) approaches to the evolution of cells. We present evidence that the entire set of transfer RNAs for all twenty amino acids are encoded in both the 16S and 23S rRNAs of Escherichia coli K12; that nucleotide sequences that could encode key fragments of ribosomal proteins, polymerases, ligases, synthetases, and phosphatases are to be found in each of the six possible reading frames of the 16S and 23S rRNAs; and that every sequence of bases in rRNA has information encoding more than one of these functions in addition to acting as a structural component of the ribosome. Ribosomal RNA, in short, is not just a structural scaffold for proteins, but the vestigial remnant of a primordial genome that may have encoded a self-organizing, self-replicating, auto-catalytic intermediary between macromolecules and cellular life.

[Pestis nigra]

Pare che l'rRNA faccia tutto da solo.
D'altronde probabilmente è esso stesso che catalizza la formazione del legame peptidico (non ci sono aa. a meno di 18 Å dal sito attivo).

[Darwin]

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