Amplification of RNA by an RNA polymerase ribozyme
Amplification of RNA by an RNA polymerase ribozyme
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DOI：
10.1073/pnas.1610103113
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发表时间：
2016-08-30
影响因子：
11.1
通讯作者：
Joyce, Gerald F.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Horning, David P.;Joyce, Gerald F.
在所有现存的生命中，遗传信息都储存在由聚合酶蛋白质复制的核酸中。在假想的RNA世界中，在基因编码蛋白质进化之前，祖先生物包含由RNA聚合酶核酶复制的RNA基因。为了在实验室中重建基于RNA的生命，通过选择能够从RNA模板合成功能RNA分子的变体，利用体外进化显著地提高了RNA聚合酶核酶的活性和通用性。改进的聚合酶核酶能够合成各种复杂结构的RNA，包括适配子、核酶，甚至在产量较低的情况下，甚至tRNA。此外，该聚合酶可以复制核酸，以RNA催化的形式将短RNA模板扩增10,000倍以上。因此，达尔文生命的两个先决条件--复制遗传信息和将其转化为功能分子--现在可以在完全没有蛋白质的情况下用RNA完成。
In all extant life, genetic information is stored in nucleic acids that are replicated by polymerase proteins. In the hypothesized RNA world, before the evolution of genetically encoded proteins, ancestral organisms contained RNA genes that were replicated by an RNA polymerase ribozyme. In an effort toward reconstructing RNA-based life in the laboratory, in vitro evolution was used to improve dramatically the activity and generality of an RNA polymerase ribozyme by selecting variants that can synthesize functional RNA molecules from an RNA template. The improved polymerase ribozyme is able to synthesize a variety of complex structured RNAs, including aptamers, ribozymes, and, in low yield, even tRNA. Furthermore, the polymerase can replicate nucleic acids, amplifying short RNA templates by more than 10,000-fold in an RNA-catalyzed form of the PCR. Thus, the two prerequisites of Darwinian life-the replication of genetic information and its conversion into functional molecules-can now be accomplished with RNA in the complete absence of proteins.