Systems Biophysics, Physics Department, Center for NanoScience, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany.
Elife. 2021 Mar 2;10:e63431. doi: 10.7554/eLife.63431.
Can replication and translation emerge in a single mechanism via self-assembly? The key molecule, transfer RNA (tRNA), is one of the most ancient molecules and contains the genetic code. Our experiments show how a pool of oligonucleotides, adapted with minor mutations from tRNA, spontaneously formed molecular assemblies and replicated information autonomously using only reversible hybridization under thermal oscillations. The pool of cross-complementary hairpins self-selected by agglomeration and sedimentation. The metastable DNA hairpins bound to a template and then interconnected by hybridization. Thermal oscillations separated replicates from their templates and drove an exponential, cross-catalytic replication. The molecular assembly could encode and replicate binary sequences with a replication fidelity corresponding to 85-90 % per nucleotide. The replication by a self-assembly of tRNA-like sequences suggests that early forms of tRNA could have been involved in molecular replication. This would link the evolution of translation to a mechanism of molecular replication.
自我组装能否通过单一机制产生复制和翻译？关键分子转移 RNA（tRNA）是最古老的分子之一，包含遗传密码。我们的实验展示了如何通过对 tRNA 进行微小突变的寡核苷酸池，在热振荡下仅通过可逆杂交自发形成分子组装并自主复制信息。通过聚集和沉淀自我选择的互补发夹的寡核苷酸池。亚稳态 DNA 发夹与模板结合，然后通过杂交相互连接。热振荡将副本与其模板分离，并驱动指数级交叉催化复制。分子组装可以对二进制序列进行编码和复制，其复制保真度对应于每个核苷酸的 85-90%。通过类似 tRNA 的序列的自组装进行的复制表明，早期形式的 tRNA 可能参与了分子复制。这将把翻译的进化与分子复制的机制联系起来。
