Lacey J C, Staves M P, Thomas R D
Department of Biochemistry, University of Alabama, Birmingham 35294.
J Mol Evol. 1990 Sep;31(3):244-8. doi: 10.1007/BF02109502.
This minireview is a summary of the basic concepts and pieces of experimental evidence supporting a hypothesis that suggests a mechanism whereby purine monoribonucleotides having D-ribose may be able to preferentially catalyze the synthesis of L-amino acid peptides. The proposed mechanism involves a 2'-3' diaminoacyl intermediate and the preference accrues from several factors that favor the L-isomer, principally for hydrophobic amino acids. Although the hypothesis has not been fully tested, some crucial evidence has been published. Other pieces of evidence are now being submitted or are in press for publication and still other experiments, principally on the step of peptide bond formation, are in the process of being carried out. The purpose of a review at this point is to present the hypothesis to the scientific community in hopes of generating discussion, suggestions, and evaluation by other workers. Should the hypothesis prove correct, it may represent the most primitive and fundamental relationship between the nucleic acid and protein systems. In addition, it would represent another important example of the catalytic ability of RNA.
本综述总结了一些基本概念和实验证据，这些证据支持了一个假说，该假说提出了一种机制，即具有D-核糖的嘌呤单核糖核苷酸可能能够优先催化L-氨基酸肽的合成。所提出的机制涉及一个2'-3'二氨基酰中间体，这种偏好源于几个有利于L-异构体的因素，主要是针对疏水氨基酸。尽管该假说尚未得到充分验证，但一些关键证据已经发表。其他证据正在提交或即将发表，还有其他实验，主要是关于肽键形成步骤的实验，正在进行中。此时进行综述的目的是向科学界提出该假说，希望引发其他研究人员的讨论、建议和评估。如果该假说被证明是正确的，它可能代表了核酸与蛋白质系统之间最原始和最基本的关系。此外，它将代表RNA催化能力的另一个重要例子。
