Emergence of a "Cyclosome" in a Primitive Network Capable of Building "Infinite" Proteins.

ABSTRACT: We argue for the existence of an RNA sequence, called the AL (for ALpha) sequence, which may have played a role at the origin of life; this role entailed the AL sequence helping generate the first peptide assemblies via a primitive network. These peptide assemblies included "infinite" proteins. The AL sequence was constructed on an economy principle as the smallest RNA ring having one representative of each codon's synonymy class and capable of adopting a non-functional but nevertheless evolutionarily stable hairpin form that resisted denaturation due to environmental changes in pH, hydration, temperature, etc. Long subsequences from the AL ring resemble sequences from tRNAs and 5S rRNAs of numerous species like the proteobacterium, Rhodobacter sphaeroides. Pentameric subsequences f

SUBMITTER: Demongeot J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6617141 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature