Imagination on fire: selfish ribosomes (Introduction)

by David Turell , Thursday, January 08, 2015, 00:32 (3607 days ago)

Seems hare-brained to me:-http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/01/150107101405.htm-Anyone consult with Richard Dawkins?-"Since the discovery of how DNA encodes genetic information, most research on the evolution of life has focused on genes. According to the "selfish gene" theory, cells and organisms exist simply as packages to protect and transmit genes. New research challenges this idea, proposing instead that if anything is "selfish" it must be the ribosome. That up-ends everything we think we know about the evolution of life and, in fact, the function of ribosomes themselves.-"What came first in the evolution of life? Until now, scientists have answered the question with three letters: DNA"-The author of the report IS harebrained. DNA came first?!-"Inspired by Discovering, Meredith turned the selfish gene idea around. What if ribosomes are "selfishly" trying to reproduce themselves? Did ribosomes recycle ribosomal RNA to interact with proteins--creating the mRNAs and tRNAs we know today-- and invent DNA as securely stored assembly instructions? If this were the case, then the rRNA sequences should match the sequences of mRNAs, tRNAs, and DNA encoding ribosomal proteins.-"This new hypothesis was tested by Robert, comparing ribosomal RNA to databases of all the RNAs, DNA and proteins of the bacteria E. coli.-"If ribosomes want to reproduce themselves, the rRNA would have to contain three things that no one has ever noticed before. First, it must contain the "genes" encoding its own ribosomal proteins so as to be able to form a working "machine." Second, it must contain the mRNAs needed to carry its own genetic information to the "machine." Finally, it had to encode the tRNAs necessary to translate the mRNAs into proteins.-"Meredith and Robert Root-Bernstein showed that the structure of the rRNA shows startlingly good matches to all of these structures in E. coli.-"We have demonstrated that rRNA contains the vestiges of the mRNAs, tRNAs and "genes" that encode its own protein structure and function. Ribosomes are not simply the passive translators DNA," says Dr. Robert Root-Bernstein.-"We're all homes to ribosomes-"The selfish ribosome model closes a big theoretical gap between, on the one hand, the simple biological molecules that can form on mud flats, oceanic thermal vents or via lightning, and on the other hand LUCA, or the Last Universal Common Ancestor, a single-celled organism."-Whew! Harebrained scientists?