Reflections of a Darwinian Engineer.
Reflections of a Darwinian Engineer.
复制标题
达尔文工程师的反思。
DOI：
10.1007/s00239-015-9724-6
复制
发表时间：
2015-12
影响因子：
3.9
通讯作者：
Joyce GF
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Joyce GF
今年是通常被认为是体外进化突破性一年的25周年。1990年，生物技术的进步和对RNA功能能力的更深入理解使科学家们有勇气向RNA序列空间的未知沃茨发起探险。受自然界达尔文进化论的影响，以及索尔·施皮格尔曼（Sol Spiegelman）在体外对噬菌体基因组RNA进行进化的开创性实验（米尔斯等人，1967年），似乎如果提供足够的分子多样性、选择严格性和扩增能力，就有可能“培育”具有用户指定特性的RNA分子。灵感也来自于“RNA世界”的概念（吉尔伯特，1986），在地球生命的早期历史中，RNA既是遗传物质，也是催化功能的主要媒介。在实验室里构建一个基于RNA的生命形式是一个过于雄心勃勃的想法（尽管通常是激励性的），但一个更切实的目标是通过进化新的功能性RNA分子来捕获RNA世界的一部分。对我来说，还有另一个灵感，这是在PCR扩增发明和催化RNA发现之前的十年。在我以前讲过的一个故事中（乔伊斯1999），我受到了托马斯品钦的小说的强烈影响，特别是《万有引力的彩虹》（品钦1973），它寓言地讲述了宇宙朝着最大熵状态的不可阻挡的衰变，
This year marks the 25th anniversary of what is often regarded as a breakthrough year for in vitro evolution. In 1990, there was a confluence of biotechnological advances and deeper appreciation for the functional capacity of RNA that emboldened scientists to launch expeditions into the uncharted waters of RNA sequence space. Inspired by the power of Darwinian evolution in nature, as well as the pioneering experiments of Sol Spiegelman regarding the in vitro evolution of Qß bacteriophage genomic RNA (Mills et al. 1967), it seemed that if one provided sufficient molecular diversity, selection stringency, and amplification horsepower, it might be possible to ‘‘breed’’RNA molecules with user-specified properties. Inspiration also came from the notion of an ‘‘RNA world’’(Gilbert 1986), a presumed time in the early history of life on Earth when RNA served as both the genetic material and the chief agent of catalytic function. It was too ambitious (although often motivational) to think about constructing an RNA-based life form in the laboratory, but a more tangible goal was to capture a piece of the RNA world by evolving novel functional RNA molecules.For me there was another inspiration, which came a decade before the invention of PCR amplification and the discovery of catalytic RNA. In a story I have told previously (Joyce 1999), I was strongly affected by the novels of Thomas Pynchon, in particular Gravity’s Rainbow (Pynchon 1973), which spoke allegorically of the universe’s inexorable decay toward a state of maximum entropy and