Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Published Online January 8, 2009
Science DOI: 10.1126/science.1167856

Reports

Submitted on October 29, 2008
Accepted on December 23, 2008

Self-Sustained Replication of an RNA Enzyme

Tracey A. Lincoln 1 and Gerald F. Joyce 1*

1 Departments of Chemistry and Molecular Biology and the Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
Gerald F. Joyce , E-mail: gjoyce{at}scripps.edu

An RNA enzyme that catalyzes the RNA-templated joining of RNA was converted to a format whereby two enzymes catalyze each other’s synthesis from a total of four oligonucleotide substrates. These cross-replicating RNA enzymes undergo self-sustained exponential amplification in the absence of proteins or other biological materials. Amplification occurs with a doubling time of about one hour, and can be continued indefinitely. Populations of various cross-replicating enzymes were constructed and allowed to compete for a common pool of substrates, during which recombinant replicators arose and grew to dominate the population. These replicating RNA enzymes can serve as an experimental model of a genetic system. Many such model systems could be constructed, allowing different selective outcomes to be related to the underlying properties of the genetic system.


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Large facilities and the evolving ribosome, the cellular machine for genetic-code translation.
A. Yonath (2009)
J R Soc Interface 6, S575-S585
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
The network of life: genome beginnings and evolution.
M. A. Ragan, J. O. McInerney, and J. A. Lake (2009)
Phil Trans R Soc B 364, 2169-2175
   Full Text »    PDF »
Evolution in an RNA World.
G.F. Joyce (2009)
Cold Spring Harb Symp Quant Biol
   Abstract »    PDF »
The Role of Biomacromolecular Crowding, Ionic Strength, and Physicochemical Gradients in the Complexities of Life's Emergence.
J. Spitzer and B. Poolman (2009)
Microbiol. Mol. Biol. Rev. 73, 371-388
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
The dawn of the RNA World: Toward functional complexity through ligation of random RNA oligomers.
C. Briones, M. Stich, and S. C. Manrubia (2009)
RNA 15, 743-749
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)