Zhang S, Egli M
Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge 02139.
Orig Life Evol Biosph. 1994 Nov;24(6):495-505. doi: 10.1007/BF01582033.
We wish to propose a mechanism for reciprocal information transfer in prebiotic molecular evolution, based on heterologous pairing complex formation between oligoribonucleotides and oligopeptides. In this proposed pairing complex, the bases of the oligoribonucleotide and the side chains of the oligopeptide may form three types of complementary Watson-Crick-type hydrogen bonds. The structural basis for the pairing is the close correspondence of the distances between the side chains in the two molecules. Both the inter-nucleotide spacing of the RNA and the inter-side-chain spacing of the peptide are approximately 3.4 A. The proposed pairing mode would allow both specific and nonspecific interactions required for reciprocal information transfer. Thus, it represents a simple and versatile coding system that could have had significant implications in prebiotic molecular selection and evolution. In addition, we propose several testable experimental approaches based on the pairing mode of oligoribonucleotides and oligopeptides to verify our hypothesis.
我们希望基于寡核糖核苷酸与寡肽之间形成的异源配对复合物，提出一种在益生元分子进化中进行相互信息传递的机制。在这种提出的配对复合物中，寡核糖核苷酸的碱基与寡肽的侧链可能形成三种互补的沃森-克里克型氢键。配对的结构基础是两个分子中侧链之间距离的紧密对应。RNA的核苷酸间距和肽的侧链间距均约为3.4埃。所提出的配对模式将允许相互信息传递所需的特异性和非特异性相互作用。因此，它代表了一种简单且通用的编码系统，可能对益生元分子选择和进化具有重要意义。此外，我们基于寡核糖核苷酸和寡肽的配对模式提出了几种可测试的实验方法，以验证我们的假设。
