Was it an ancient gene codifying for a hairpin RNA that, by means of direct duplication, gave rise to the primitive tRNA molecule?
✍ Scribed by Massimo Di Giulio
- Book ID
- 104154684
- Publisher
- Elsevier Science
- Year
- 1995
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 618 KB
- Volume
- 177
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0022-5193
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
Some sequences of transfer RNAs (tRNAs) which are believed to possess many of the characteristics of the ancestral sequence of this molecule are constructed. Analysis of these ancestral sequences seems to indicate that: (i) self-alignment of these sequences makes it possible for the Y-half of the reconstructed molecule to display a significant similarity to the 5'-half, thus indicating that the two halves oftRNA might be paralogous, and (ii) the Y-half of the ancestral tRNA can reconstruct an almost perfect hairpin structure. These observations give weight to the hypothesis suggesting that the primitive tRNA molecule may have originated through direct duplication of an ancient gene codifying for a hairpin structure.