Spontaneous Covalent Self-Assembly of the Azoarcus Ribozyme from Five Fragments

Tharuka S Jayathilaka; Niles Lehman

doi:10.1002/cbic.201700591

Spontaneous Covalent Self-Assembly of the Azoarcus Ribozyme from Five Fragments

Chembiochem. 2018 Feb 2;19(3):217-220. doi: 10.1002/cbic.201700591. Epub 2018 Jan 5.

Authors

Tharuka S Jayathilaka¹, Niles Lehman¹

Affiliation

¹ Department of Chemistry, Portland State University, P. O. Box 751, Portland, OR, 97207, USA.

PMID: 29207206
DOI: 10.1002/cbic.201700591

Abstract

Spontaneous covalent assembly of short RNA fragments has been proposed as a plausible prebiotically relevant pathway to a self-reproducing system. We previously showed that the Azoarcus group I intron could self-assemble from four RNA fragments. Here, we extended this fragmentation to five RNAs that averaged <40 nucleotides in length. We optimized this reaction and showed that a dehydration-rehydration sequence was the most effective means to date to shift the self-assembly equilibrium from reactants to products.

Keywords: Azoarcus; RNA; origins of life; recombination; ribozyme.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Azoarcus / chemistry*
RNA, Bacterial / biosynthesis*
RNA, Bacterial / chemistry
RNA, Catalytic / metabolism*

Substances

RNA, Bacterial
RNA, Catalytic