The historical process of life is visible within the structure of transport RNA

Transfer RNA is a long-standing molecule and is the center of every function a cell performs and is therefore essential for all life. A new study from the University of Illinois shows that transport RNA is also a 'great historian', keeping a little of the earliest and most influential events of evolution in their structure.

The study was written by Gustavo Caetano-Anollés, professor of crop science with postdoctoral researcher Feng-Jie Sun, which appeared on March 7 in PLoS Computational Biology .

Among the thousands of RNAs found to date, transport RNA is the most direct intermediary between genes and proteins. Like many other RNAs, transporting RNA supports the conversion of genes into amino acid sequences, which make proteins. With the help of a targeted enzyme, each transporting RNA molecule identifies and latches on a specific amino acid that they carry to the protein generator. In order to successfully add amino acids to the completion of a protein development, the transfer RNA must also correctly read a portion of the encoded RNA information, partly giving instructions for the process of amino acids. acid in protein.

All transport rigs combine to form a shape that, if flattened, will look like an intersection-like intersection.These types of structures provide clues to early evolutionary history.

Caetano - Anolles said that the transfer of RNA is the focus of the protein-making function, which means it has been around for a long time. His question begins with an understanding that understanding the structural properties of transport RNA will reveal how the organisms and viruses evolved.

He said: 'In evolution there are the most basic things that are retained, maintained for millions or even billions of years. They are fossils, molecular fossils that tell them about the past. Therefore, the study of these molecules can identify fundamental questions in biology and evolution. '

All transport RNAs combined together into one form if flattened are like a dragonfly. The team began searching for patterns in this leaf structure by using detailed data from hundreds of molecules representing viruses and each of the three domains: archaea, bacteria and eukaryotes.

The researchers transformed the characteristic traits of individual RNA-shaped leaf-like structures into encoded traits. This is the process of allowing a computerized study of the most simple and probable transport RNA group. They performed similar analyzes on the transport RNA of each field. To see how far these groups are, they are far away from the overall group. This comparison allows them to determine the order in which the viruses and each organism in the world have separated.

This analysis supports an earlier study that suggested that the bacterium was the first organism to emerge as an evolutionary characteristic group. Antibacterial bacteria are bacteria that can survive in boiling acid near the sea of ​​sulfur or other harsh environments. Previous research also led by Caetano - Anollés analyzed a huge catalog of protein folds - regions that have been correctly shaped in proteins that give them the functionality they have, and this catalog as guideline for evolutionary history. Caetano-Anollés said: 'This is important because two independent sources of evidence support each other.'

Caetano-Anollés said the new analysis also showed that the viruses appeared shortly after antiquity along with phylogenetic organisms in the field as well as bacteria long after. This finding affects the current debate about whether viruses existed before or after the emergence of life cells. He added that advocating the idea that the virus is produced by the cell domain.

* Caetano-Anollés is a member of the Illinois Institute of Genomics Biology.