It's (not) life, Jim ... but not as we know it
From this week's Science magazine online abstracts:
Self-Sustained Replication of an RNA Enzyme
Tracey A. Lincoln and Gerald F. Joyce
An RNA enzyme that catalyzes the RNA-templated joining of RNA was converted to a format whereby two enzymes catalyze each other’s synthesis from a total of four oligonucleotide substrates. These cross-replicating RNA enzymes undergo self-sustained exponential amplification in the absence of proteins or other biological materials. Amplification occurs with a doubling time of about one hour, and can be continued indefinitely. Populations of various cross-replicating enzymes were constructed and allowed to compete for a common pool of substrates, during which recombinant replicators arose and grew to dominate the population. These replicating RNA enzymes can serve as an experimental model of a genetic system. Many such model systems could be constructed, allowing different selective outcomes to be related to the underlying properties of the genetic system.
Discussions
10 years ago
One more step to the DIY cell kit!
Reply 10 years ago
I will take two!
Reply 10 years ago
Is one of them for your Mac?
>snicker<
Reply 10 years ago
'>snicker<' .... who does that on the internet nowadays, i mean really..
Reply 10 years ago
You mean other than Kiteman?
>snicker<
Reply 10 years ago
.. FAIL
Reply 10 years ago
:'(
Reply 10 years ago
two cells, or two kits ;-)
Reply 10 years ago
well, 3 total brain cells would be good..
10 years ago
This isn't all that surprising. I have seen other chemical exhibit similar behavior, as it were.
For instance, Cairns-Smith has shown that, adjunct to the carbon-based self-replicating crystals of DNA & RNA, there are also much simpler silicon based crystals that are also self-replicating.
Reply 10 years ago
When you describe crystals as "self-replicating", I assume you mean something more subtle than just normal crystal growth? In particular, one isolated item induces the growth of a second, separate and isolated item? The article above isn't dealing with RNA "crystals" (the kind of thing you have to make for X-ray diffraction studies). Instead, they designed a pair of ribozymes -- RNA nucleotide chains which exhibit protein-like catalytic behavior -- each of which would catalyze the synthesis of the other from a solution of individual nucleotide.
Reply 10 years ago
Understood, I certainly did not mean to sound condescending in any way.
Reply 10 years ago
Sorry, I wasn't trying to be condescending or rhetorical, either. I'm not familiar with Cairns-Smith's work. If you were talking about a non-trivial form of replication (i.e., not just crystal growth), that would be really cool, and I'm interested in learning more.
Reply 10 years ago
I am SO sorry....I really DO have to get into my library more often to review things I have read in the past.
Again, I was confusing things, this time books: I have a book by Vladimir S. Boyko (and etc.) called Reversible Crystal Plasticity.
I also have a two volume tome called Peptide Growth Factors and Their Receptors I - II
To find what I am looking for may require me a little more time then I anticipated. :-) But I do want to see if I am correct, or need correction on the matter.
Reply 10 years ago
Although I was referencing Cairns-Smith I believe I was confusing this with something I had read on irreversible crystalline plasticity. I will have to look it up when I get home from work, as I can't even find reference to the two volume tome online.
10 years ago
Woot!! One shuffle closer to improving my genetics for super human speed and strength...