Sprecher
Beschreibung
The early evolution of life must have gone through a stage where catalytic RNAs (ribozymes) provided many functions that are today fulfilled by proteins. This idea is supported by the requirement of the ribosome (a catalytic RNA) for the synthesis of proteins in all known life forms, by the abundance of nucleotide-based cofactors, and by the ability of RNAs to catalyze a broad spectrum of chemical reactions. We have used in vitro selection experiments for ribozymes to answer how such an early stage of life could have looked like. This talk will describe two such projects, one on the development of a GTP synthase ribozyme (here the focus is on a ribozyme-based metabolism) and the other on the selection of catalytic oligonucleotide complexes (here the focus is on the minimal information of catalytic systems). I hope to convey that there must have been many stages in the early evolution of life between prebiotic chemistry and life's invention of the ribosome.
