Miller (1953Miller SL (1953) A production of amino acids under possible primitive earth conditions. Science 117:528-529.) - Synthesized amino acids from simpler compounds. Palade (1955Palade GE (1955) A small particulate component of the cytoplasm. J Biophys Biochem Cytol 1:59-68.) - First observation of the ribosomal complex. Woese (1965Woese CR (1965) On the evolution of the genetic code. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 54:1546-1552. ), Crick (1968Crick FHC (1968) The origin of the genetic code. J Mol Biol 38:367-379. ) and Orgel (1968Orgel LE (1968) Evolution of the genetic apparatus. J Mol Biol 38:381-393.) - Proposed that RNA could be the first informational molecule. Eigen and Schuster (1977aEigen M and Schuster P (1977a) The hypercycle. A principle of natural self-organization. Part A: Emergence of the hypercycle. Naturwissenschaften 64:541-565.,bEigen M and Schuster P (1977b) The hypercycle. A principle of natural self-organisation. Part B: The abstract hypercycle. Naturwissenschaften 65:7-41.,cEigen M and Schuster P (1977c) The hypercycle. A principle of natural self-organisation. Part C: The realistic hypercycle. Naturwissenschaften 65:341-369.) - Proposed the hypercycles model for the initial organization of biological systems. Eigen and Winkler-Oswatitsch (1981Eigen M and Winkler-Oswatitsch R (1981) Transfer-RNA, an early gene? Naturwissenschaften 68:282-292. ) - Suggested that tRNAs acted as the first genes. Kruger et al. (1982Kruger K, Grabowski PJ, Zaug AJ, Sands J, Gottschling DE and Cech TR (1982) Self-splicing RNA: Autoexcision and autocyclization of the ribosomal RNA intervening sequence of Tetrahymena. Cell 31:147-157.), Guerrier-Takada and collaborators (1983Guerrier-Takada C, Gardiner K, Marsh T, Pace N and Altman S (1983) The RNA moiety of ribonuclease P is the catalytic subunit of the enzyme. Cell 35:849-857.) - Identified catalytic activity in RNA molecules. Bloch et al. (1984Bloch D, Mcarthur B, Widdowson R, Spector D, Guimaraes R C and Smith J (1984) tRNA-rRNA sequence homologies: A model for the origin of a common ancestral molecule, and prospects for its reconstruction. Orig Life 14:571-578. , 1989Bloch DP, McArthur B, Guimarães RC, Smith J and Staves MP (1989) tRNA-rRNA sequence matches from inter- and intraspecies comparisons suggest common origins for the two RNAs. Braz J Med Biol Res 22:931-944.) - Found evidence for a common origin between tRNAs and rRNAs. Di Giulio (1997Di Giulio M (1997) On the RNA world: Evidence in favor of an early ribonucleopeptide world. J Mol Evol 45:571-578.) - Proposes a model for the origin of coenzymes before the emergence of ribosomes. In his model, a ribonucleoprotein interaction is assumed for the origin of biological catalysis. Ban et al. (2000Ban N, Nissen P, Hansen J, Moore PB and Steitz TA (2000) The complete atomic structure of the large ribosomal subunit at 2.4 A resolution. Science 289:905-920. ), Schluenzen et al. (2000Schluenzen F, Tocilj A, Zarivach R, Harms J, Gluehmann M, Janell D, Bashan A, Bartels H, Agmon I, Franceschi F et al. (2000) Structure of functionally activated small ribosomal subunit at 3.3 angstroms resolution. Cell 102:615-623.) and Wimberly et al. (2000Wimberly BT, Brodersen DE, Clemons WM Jr, Morgan-Warren RJ, Carter, AP, Vonrhein C, Hartsch T and Ramakrishnan V (2000) Structure of the 30S ribosomal subunit. Nature 407:327-339.) - Unraveled the three-dimensional structure of the ribosome. Davidovich et al. (2009Davidovich C, Belousoff M, Bashan A and Yonath A (2009) The evolving ribosome: From non-coded peptide bond formation to sophisticated translation machinery. Res Microbiol 160:487-492. ), Petrov et al. (2014Petrov AS, Bernier CR, Hsiao C, Norris AM, Kovacs NA, Waterbury CC, Stepanov VG, Harvey SC, Fox GE, Wartell RM et al. (2014) Evolution of the ribosome at atomic resolution. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 111:10251-10256.) - Demonstrated that the peptidyl transferase center is the oldest portion of the ribosome. Farias et al. (2014Farias ST, Rêgo TG and José MV (2014) Origin and evolution of the peptidyl transferase center from proto-tRNAs. FEBS Open Bio 4:175-178.), Root-Bernstein and Root-Bernstein (2015Root-Bernstein M and Root-Bernstein R (2015) The ribosome as a missing link in the evolution of life. J Theor Biol 367:130-158. ) - Demonstrated similarities between the peptidyl transferase center and tRNA molecules. Caetano-Anollés and Sun (2014Caetano-Anollés G and Sun FJ (2014) The natural history of transfer RNA and its interactions with the ribosome. Front Genet 5:127.) - Suggested that tRNA molecules are older than rRNA molecules. Keller et al. (2014Keller MA, Turchyn AV and Ralser M (2014) Non-enzymatic glycolysis and pentose phosphate pathway-like reactions in a plausible Archean ocean. Mol Syst Biol 10:725. ) - Demonstrated the possibility of the glycolytic pathway and the pentose pathway to occur under prebiotic conditions without the presence of enzymes. Root-Bernstein and Root-Bernstein (2015Root-Bernstein M and Root-Bernstein R (2015) The ribosome as a missing link in the evolution of life. J Theor Biol 367:130-158. ) e Farias et al. (2016Farias ST, Rêgo TG and José MV (2016b) tRNA core hypothesis for the transition from the RNA world to the ribonucleoprotein world. Life (Basel) 6:15. ) - Found similarities between tRNAs and genes that encode basal processes in cells. Root-Bernstein and Root-Bernstein (2015Root-Bernstein M and Root-Bernstein R (2015) The ribosome as a missing link in the evolution of life. J Theor Biol 367:130-158. ) - Suggested that the ribosome functioned as a primitive genome. Lanier et al. (2017Lanier KA, Petrov AS and Williams LD (2017) The central symbiosis of molecular biology: Molecules in mutualism. J Mol Evol 85:8-13.), Prosdocimi et al. (2021Prosdocimi F, José MV and Farias ST (2021b) The theory of chemical symbiosis: A margulian view for the emergence of biological systems (origin of life). Acta Biotheor 69:67-78.) - Suggested mutualism and chemical symbiosis, respectively, as scenarios for the emergence of biological systems. Farias et al. (2021Farias ST, Rêgo TG and José MV (2021b) Origin of the 16S ribosomal molecule from ancestor tRNAs. J Mol Evol 89:249-256. ) - Suggested a concept of life based on the processing of encoded information, with the origin of translation as a central point in the process of establishing biological systems. Bose et al. (2022Bose T, Fridkin G, Davidovich C, Krupkin M, Dinger N, Falkovich AH, Peleg Y, Agmon I, Bashan A and Yonath A (2022) Origin of life: Protoribosome forms peptide bonds and links RNA and protein dominated worlds. Nucleic Acids Res 50:1815-1828. ) - Synthesized a primitive peptidyl transferase center capable of catalyzing random peptide bonds. |