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Science 22 October 1999:
Vol. 286. no. 5440, pp. 690 - 692
DOI: 10.1126/science.286.5440.690
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Perspectives

MOLECULAR EVOLUTION:
Do Proteins Predate DNA?

Stephen J. Freeland, Robin D. Knight, Laura F. Landweber

There has been much debate about which evolved first: DNA, RNA, or protein? Although it is now widely accepted that versatile RNA, with its abilities for storing information like DNA and catalyzing enzymic reactions like proteins, came first, it is not clear whether DNA or protein came next. In a provocative Perspective, Stephen Freeland and colleagues examine new evidence suggesting that RNA-encoded proteins evolved after RNA but before DNA.

The authors are in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA. E-mail: freeland{at}rnaworld.princeton.edu, rdknight{at}princeton.edu, lfl{at}princeton.edu

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THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
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V. R. Young and A. M. Ajami (2001)
J. Nutr. 131, 2449S-2459
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The Anaerobic Ribonucleotide Reductase from Lactococcus lactis. INTERACTIONS BETWEEN THE TWO PROTEINS NrdD AND NrdG.
E. Torrents, R. Eliasson, H. Wolpher, A. Graslund, and P. Reichard (2001)
J. Biol. Chem. 276, 33488-33494
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