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Reciprocal Nucleopeptides as the Ancestral Darwinian Self-Replicator
Eleanor F Banwell1, Bernard M A G Piette2, Anne Taormina2
1Heddle Initiative Research Unit, RIKEN, 2-1 Hirosawa, Wako, Saitama 351-0198, Japan.
Molecular Biology and Evolution
|November 11, 2017
Summary
Researchers propose nucleopeptide reciprocal replicators as the simplest explanation for the origin of life and evolution. This model explains early replication systems and the emergence of DNA and the operational code.
Area of Science:
- Origin of Life Studies
- Biochemistry
- Evolutionary Biology
Background:
- Life's complexity suggests gradual emergence from simpler precursors.
- The first entity capable of evolution, the Initial Darwinian Ancestor, marked a critical step.
Purpose of the Study:
- To propose a simple, mathematically consistent model for the emergence of the first replicator.
- To explain the origin of extant replication systems and the operational code.
Main Methods:
- Modeling nucleopeptide reciprocal replicators.
- Proposing assembly of amino-acylated adapters on short nucleic acid templates.
- Describing spatial localization driving peptide ligation and catalysis.
Main Results:
- Nucleopeptide replicators offer the simplest explanation for early life's emergence.
- The proposed system is autocatalytic, involving both protein and nucleic acid components.
- This model unifies previous hypotheses on replication and genetic code origins.
Conclusions:
- Nucleopeptide reciprocal replicators provide a plausible pathway for the emergence of DNA.
- This dynamical system offers a unified model for the origin of replication and the operational code.
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