Generation of functional RNAs from inactive oligonucleotide complexes by non-enzymatic primer extension.

ABSTRACT: The earliest genomic RNAs had to be short enough for efficient replication, while simultaneously serving as unfolded templates and effective ribozymes. A partial solution to this paradox may lie in the fact that many functional RNAs can self-assemble from multiple fragments. Therefore, in early evolution, genomic RNA fragments could have been significantly shorter than unimolecular functional RNAs. Here, we show that unstable, nonfunctional complexes assembled from even shorter 3'-truncated oligonucleotides can be stabilized and gain function via non-enzymatic primer extension. Such short RNAs could act as good templates due to their minimal length and complex-forming capacity, while their minimal length would facilitate replication by relatively inefficient polymerization reactions. These

SUBMITTER: Adamala K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4984999 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature