2023-09-26 ペンシルベニア州立大学(PennState)
◆RNAの適切な折りたたみがRNAベースの治療法のデザインにも影響を与える可能性があります。この研究は、RNAが遺伝情報をエンコードするだけでなく、細胞の多くの機能を担当し、反応を触媒する酵素として機能するため、RNAが生命の基本的な構築要素に進化したというRNAワールド仮説と呼ばれる仮説に関連しています。
<関連情報>
- https://www.psu.edu/news/eberly-college-science/story/could-rna-folding-play-role-origin-life/
- https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adh5152
ペプチドに富む液滴内のRNAフォールディング研究により、生命の起源における修飾ヌクレオシドの役割が明らかになった。 RNA folding studies inside peptide-rich droplets reveal roles of modified nucleosides at the origin of life
McCauley O. Meyer,Ryota Yamagami,Saehyun Choi,Christine D. Keating, and Philip C. Bevilacqua
Science Advances Published:20 Sep 2023
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adh5152
Abstract
Compartmentalization of RNA in biopolymer-rich membraneless organelles is now understood to be pervasive and critical for the function of extant biology and has been proposed as a prebiotically plausible way to accumulate RNA. However, compartment-RNA interactions that drive encapsulation have the potential to influence RNA structure and function in compartment- and RNA sequence–dependent ways. Here, we detail next-generation sequencing (NGS) experiments performed in membraneless compartments called complex coacervates to characterize the fold of many different transfer RNAs (tRNAs) simultaneously under the potentially denaturing conditions of these compartments. Notably, we find that natural modifications favor the native fold of tRNAs in these compartments. This suggests that covalent RNA modifications could have played a critical role in metabolic processes at the origin of life.
