RESUMEN
BACKGROUND: The origins of life on the Earth required chemical entities to interact with their environments in ways that could respond to natural selection. The concept of interpretation, where biotic entities use signs in their environment as proxy for the existence of other items of selective value in their environment, has been proposed on theoretical grounds to be relevant to the origins and early evolution of life. However this concept has not been demonstrated empirically. RESULTS: Here, we present data that certain catalytic RNA sequences have properties that would enable interpretation of divalent cation levels in their environment. By assaying the responsiveness of two variants of the Tetrahymena ribozyme to the Ca(2+) ion as a sign for the more catalytically useful Mg(2+) ion, we show an empirical proof-of-principle that interpretation can be an evolvable trait in RNA, often suggested as a model system for early life. In particular we demonstrate that in vitro, the wild-type version of the Tetrahymena ribozyme is not interpretive, in that it cannot use Ca(2+) as a sign for Mg(2+). Yet a variant of this sequence containing five mutations that alter its ability to utilize the Ca(2+) ion engenders a strong interpretive characteristic in this RNA. CONCLUSIONS: We have shown that RNA molecules in a test tube can meet the minimum criteria for the evolution of interpretive behaviour in regards to their responses to divalent metal ion concentrations in their environment. Interpretation in RNA molecules provides a property entirely dependent on natural physico-chemical interactions, but capable of shaping the evolutionary trajectory of macromolecules, especially in the earliest stages of life's history.
Asunto(s)
Cationes Bivalentes/metabolismo , Evolución Molecular , ARN Catalítico/genética , ARN Catalítico/metabolismo , Tetrahymena/genética , Secuencia de Bases , Datos de Secuencia Molecular , Origen de la Vida , ARN Catalítico/química , Tetrahymena/enzimologíaRESUMEN
Organisms represented by the root of the universal evolutionary tree were most likely complex cells with a sophisticated protein translation system and a DNA genome encoding hundreds of genes. The growth of bioinformatics data from taxonomically diverse organisms has made it possible to infer the likely properties of early life in greater detail. Here we present LUCApedia, (http://eeb.princeton.edu/lucapedia), a unified framework for simultaneously evaluating multiple data sets related to the Last Universal Common Ancestor (LUCA) and its predecessors. This unification is achieved by mapping eleven such data sets onto UniProt, KEGG and BioCyc IDs. LUCApedia may be used to rapidly acquire evidence that a certain gene or set of genes is ancient, to examine the early evolution of metabolic pathways, or to test specific hypotheses related to ancient life by corroborating them against the rest of the database.