Simon Fraser University
How did life begin on Earth and could it exist elsewhere? Researchers at Simon Fraser University have isolated a genetic clue—an enzyme known as an RNA polymerase—that provides new insights about the origins of life. The research is published today in the journal Science.
Researchers in SFU molecular biology and biochemistry professor Peter Unrau’s laboratory are working to advance the RNA World Hypothesis in answer to fundamental questions on life’s beginnings.
The hypothesis suggests that life on our planet began with self-replicating ribonucleic acid (RNA) molecules, capable of not only carrying genetic information but also driving chemical reactions essential for life, prior to the evolution of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and proteins, which now perform both functions within our cells.
Through a process of in vitro evolution in the lab, the team has isolated a promoter-based RNA polymerase ribozyme—an enzyme capable of synthesizing RNA using RNA as a template—that has processive clamping abilities that are equivalent to modern-day protein polymerases.
“This RNA polymerase has many of the features of modern protein polymerases; it was evolved to recognize an RNA promoter, and subsequently, to copy RNA processively,” says Unrau. “What our finding implies is that similar RNA enzymes early in the evolution of life could also have manifested such sophisticated biological features.”
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