Department of Biology, York University, Toronto, Ontario M3J 1P3, Canada.
Department of Biology, York University, Toronto, Ontario M3J 1P3, Canada
RNA. 2023 Aug;29(8):1085-1098. doi: 10.1261/rna.079598.123. Epub 2023 May 4.
Darwin's assertion that "it is mere rubbish thinking, at present, of origin of life" is no longer valid. By synthesizing origin of life (OoL) research from its inception to recent findings, with a focus on (i) proof-of-principle prebiotically plausible syntheses and (ii) molecular relics of the ancient RNA World, we present a comprehensive up-to-date description of science's understanding of the OoL and the RNA World hypothesis. Based on these observations, we solidify the consensus that RNA evolved before coded proteins and DNA genomes, such that the biosphere began with an RNA core where much of the translation apparatus and related RNA architecture arose before RNA transcription and DNA replication. This supports the conclusion that the OoL was a gradual process of chemical evolution involving a series of transitional forms between prebiotic chemistry and the last universal common ancestor (LUCA) during which RNA played a central role, and that many of the events and their relative order of occurrence along this pathway are known. The integrative nature of this synthesis also extends previous descriptions and concepts and should help inform future questions and experiments about the ancient RNA World and the OoL.
达尔文曾断言“目前，生命起源的想法纯粹是垃圾”，但这种说法已经不再成立。通过综合生命起源（OoL）研究从起源到最近的发现，重点关注（i）具有生物合理性的原始合成的原理证明，以及（ii）古老 RNA 世界的分子遗迹，我们全面介绍了科学对 OoL 和 RNA 世界假说的理解。基于这些观察结果，我们巩固了这样的共识，即 RNA 先于编码蛋白和 DNA 基因组进化，因此，生物圈从 RNA 核心开始，其中大部分翻译装置和相关的 RNA 结构在 RNA 转录和 DNA 复制之前就已经出现。这支持了这样的结论，即生命起源是一个涉及一系列从原始化学到最后共同祖先（LUCA）的过渡形式的化学进化过程，在此过程中 RNA 发挥了核心作用，并且许多事件及其在该途径中的发生顺序都是已知的。这种综合的本质也扩展了以前的描述和概念，应该有助于为有关古老 RNA 世界和生命起源的未来问题和实验提供信息。
