RNA-only repair enzyme reveals how primordial life could have protected genomes
Researchers have engineered an RNA-based enzyme capable of repairing broken RNA strands without the need for proteins. This discovery provides insight into how early life forms may have protected their genetic information before the evolution of complex protein-based systems.
Why it matters
It offers a significant breakthrough in understanding the origins of life and the 'RNA world' hypothesis.
edited by Gaby Clark , reviewed by Andrew Zinin
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Add as preferred source A hairpin loop from a pre-mRNA. Highlighted are the nucleobases (green) and the ribose-phosphate backbone (blue). Note that this is a single strand of RNA that folds back upon itself. Credit: Vossman/ Wikipedia In most modern cells, DNA stores the genetic blueprint, and proteins replicate, repair and build from those blueprints. At the same time, proteins require instructions from DNA to be made in the first place.
So which one came first? Neither, researchers such as Saurja DasGupta, a biochemist at the University of Notre Dame, hypothesize.
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