Evolutionary patterns in the sequence and structure of transfer RNA: a window into early translation and the genetic code.

ABSTRACT: Transfer RNA (tRNA) molecules play vital roles during protein synthesis. Their acceptor arms are aminoacylated with specific amino acid residues while their anticodons delimit codon specificity. The history of these two functions has been generally linked in evolutionary studies of the genetic code. However, these functions could have been differentially recruited as evolutionary signatures were left embedded in tRNA molecules. Here we built phylogenies derived from the sequence and structure of tRNA, we forced taxa into monophyletic groups using constraint analyses, tested competing evolutionary hypotheses, and generated timelines of amino acid charging and codon discovery. Charging of Sec, Tyr, Ser and Leu appeared ancient, while specificities related to Asn, Met, and Arg were derived. T

SUBMITTER: Sun FJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2474678 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature