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"The origin of life is a fundamental problem of biochemical emergence, characterized by multiple transitions leading through burgeoning complexity. One of these major transitions is the origin of the genetic code and protein translation. This transition greatly expanded the potential chemical space and represented an unprecedented innovation in information flow in early living systems. However, a concrete understanding of how coded protein synthesis emerged has remained elusive."

A prebiotically plausible scenario

of an RNA-peptide world

Nature 605:279-284 (11 May 2022).

Felix Müller et al.

" . . . non-canonical RNA bases, which are found today in transfer and ribosomal RNAs, and which are considered to be relics of the RNA world, are able to establish peptide synthesis directly on RNA. The discovered chemistry creates complex peptide-decorated RNA chimeric molecules, which suggests the early existence of an RNA–peptide world from which ribosomal peptide synthesis may have
emerged. The ability to grow peptides on RNA with the help of non-canonical vestige
nucleosides offers the possibility of an early co-evolution of covalently connected RNAs
and peptides, which then could have dissociated at a higher level of sophistication to
create the dualistic nucleic acid–protein world that is the hallmark of all life on Earth."

"To gain insight into the initial processes that may have enabled the emergence of an RNA–peptide world, we analysed the chemical properties of non-canonical nucleosides, which can be traced back to the last universal common ancestor and, as such, are considered to be ‘living molecular fossils’ of an early RNA world.

This approach, which can be called ‘palaeochemistry’, enabled us to learn about the chemical possibilities that existed in the RNA world and, therefore, sets the chemical framework for the emergence of life. In contrast to earlier investigations of the origin of translation we used naturally occurring non-canonical vestige nucleosides and conditions compatible with aqueous wet–dry cycles."

Reviewer Comments & Author Rebuttals

Replication, Replicators, Transcription, Translation

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Emergence of Life and Earth's Biosphere

Review and analysis of scientific research and theory bearing on knowledge of Earth’s protogeobiosphere, origins and evolution of protobiont complexity, and emergence of life in the cosmos.

Replication, Replicators, Transcription, Translation