Origin and evolution of the Peptidyl Transferase Center from proto-tRNAs

Sávio T Farias; Thais G Rêgo; Marco V José

doi:10.1016/j.fob.2014.01.010

Origin and evolution of the Peptidyl Transferase Center from proto-tRNAs

FEBS Open Bio. 2014 Feb 8:4:175-8. doi: 10.1016/j.fob.2014.01.010. eCollection 2014.

Authors

Sávio T Farias¹, Thais G Rêgo², Marco V José³

Affiliations

¹ Universidade Federal da Paraîba, Campus I, Departamento de Biologia Molecular, Laboratório de Genética Evolutiva Paulo Leminsk, João Pessoa, Paraíba, Brazil.
² Universidade Federal da Paraíba, Campus I, Departamento de Informática, João Pessoa, Paraíba, Brazil.
³ Theoretical Biology Group, Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, CP 04510, DF, Mexico ; Centro Internacional de Ciencias, Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico.

Abstract

We tested the hypothesis of Tamura (2011) [3] that molecules of tRNA gave origin to ribosomes, particularly to the Peptidyl Transferase Center (PTC) of the 23S ribosomal RNA. We reconstructed the ancestral sequences from all types of tRNA and compared them in their sequences with the current PTC of 23S ribosomal RNA from different organisms. We built an ancestral sequence of proto-tRNAs that showed a remarkable overall identity of 50.53% with the catalytic site of PTC. We conclude that the Peptidyl Transferase Center was indeed originated by the fusion of ancestral sequences of proto-tRNA.

Keywords: Origin; Peptidyl Transferase Center; Ribosome; tRNA.