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A comparative study of prebiotic and present day translational modelsIt is generally recognized that the understanding of the molecular basis of primitive translation is a fundamental step in developing a theory of the origin of life. However, even in modern molecular biology, the mechanism for the decoding of messenger RNA triplet codons into an amino acid sequence of a protein on the ribosome is understood incompletely. Most of the proposed models for prebiotic translation lack, not only experimental support, but also a careful theoretical scrutiny of their compatibility with well understood stereochemical and energetic principles of nucleic acid structure, molecular recognition principles, and the chemistry of peptide bond formation. Present studies are concerned with comparative structural modelling and mechanistic simulation of the decoding apparatus ranging from those proposed for prebiotic conditions to the ones involved in modern biology. Any primitive decoding machinery based on nucleic acids and proteins, and most likely the modern day system, has to satisfy certain geometrical constraints. The charged amino acyl and the peptidyl termini of successive adaptors have to be adjacent in space in order to satisfy the stereochemical requirements for amide bond formation. Simultaneously, the same adaptors have to recognize successive codons on the messenger. This translational complex has to be realized by components that obey nucleic acid conformational principles, stabilities, and specificities. This generalized condition greatly restricts the number of acceptable adaptor structures.
Document ID
19860017405
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Rein, R.
(Roswell Park Memorial Inst. Buffalo, NY, United States)
Raghunathan, G.
(Roswell Park Memorial Inst. Buffalo, NY, United States)
Mcdonald, J.
(Roswell Park Memorial Inst. Buffalo, NY, United States)
Shibata, M.
(Roswell Park Memorial Inst. Buffalo, NY, United States)
Srinivasan, S.
(Roswell Park Memorial Inst. Buffalo, NY, United States)
Date Acquired
August 12, 2013
Publication Date
May 1, 1986
Publication Information
Publication: NASA, Washington Second Symposium on Chemical Evolution and the Origin and Evoilution of Life
Subject Category
Space Biology
Accession Number
86N26877
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.
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