RNA-Catalyzed Amino Acid Activation
- 23 May 2001
- journal article
- Published by American Chemical Society (ACS) in Biochemistry
- Vol. 40 (24) , 6998-7004
- https://doi.org/10.1021/bi010710x
Abstract
We have selected RNAs that perform a new reaction that chemically activates amino acids, paralleling mixed phosphate anhydride synthesis by protein aminoacyl-transfer RNA synthetases. Care with recovery of the unstable reaction product was apparently essential to this selection. The best characterized RNA, KK13, requires only Ca2+ for reaction and is optimally active at low pH with KM = 50 mM and kcat = 1.1 min-1 for activation of leucine. In conjunction with previous RNA-catalyzed aminoacyl-RNA synthesis, peptide bond formation, and RNA-based coding, these amino acid-activating RNAs complete an experimental demonstration that the four fundamental reactions of protein biosynthesis can be RNA-mediated. The appearance of translation in an RNA world is therefore supported.Keywords
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