A self-replicating ligase ribozyme
Open accessAbstract
A self-replicating molecule directs the covalent assembly of component molecules to form a product that is of identical composition to the parent. When the newly formed product also is able to direct the assembly of product molecules, the self-replicating system can be termed autocatalytic. A self-replicating system was developed based on a ribozyme that catalyzes the assembly of additional copies of itself through an RNA-catalyzed RNA ligation reaction. The R3C ligase ribozyme was redesigned so that it would ligate two substrates to generate an exact copy of itself, which then would behave in a similar manner. This self-replicating system depends on the catalytic nature of the RNA for the generation of copies. A linear dependence was observed between the initial rate of formation of new copies and the starting concentration of ribozyme, consistent with exponential growth. The autocatalytic rate constant was 0.011 min −1 , whereas the initial rate of reaction in the absence of pre-existing ribozyme was only 3.3 × 10 −11 M⋅min −1 . Exponential growth was limited, however, because newly formed ribozyme molecules had greater difficulty forming a productive complex with the two substrates. Further optimization of the system may lead to the sustained exponential growth of ribozymes that undergo self-replication.
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Gerald Joyce and coworkers have been able to produce an RNA ligase capable of self-replication in vitro.
“Gerald Joyce (1956–) and coworkers have been able to produce an RNA ligase capable of self-replication in vitro [118].”
From Opinion: The Key Steps in the Origin of Life to the Formation of the Eukaryotic Cell (2024) · cites this paper as [118]
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Kunnev, D., & Gospodinov, A. (2018) · Life · doi:10.3390/life8040044 · Cited by 24 · see citing works
Parasites Sustain and Enhance RNA-Like Replicators through Spatial Self-Organisation
Colizzi, E. S., & Hogeweg, P. (2016) · PLoS Computational Biology · doi:10.1371/journal.pcbi.1004902 · Cited by 19 · see citing works
“RNA molecules can store information much like DNA as well as catalyse reactions [2–4], including self-replication [5, 6], and are capable of undergoing Darwinian evolution [7–9].”
Ribozyme activity modulates the physical properties of RNA–peptide coacervates
Vay, K. K. L., Salibi, E., Ghosh, B., Tang, T. ‐. D., & Mutschler, H. (2023) · eLife · doi:10.7554/elife.83543 · Cited by 35 · see citing works
Canard explosion of limit cycles in templator models of self-replication mechanisms
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Generating System-Level Responses from a Network of Simple Synthetic Replicators
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Continual reproduction of self-assembling oligotriazole peptide nanomaterials
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Chemistry Constraints on the Origin of Life
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- Authors
- Paul, N., & Joyce, G. F.
- Affiliations
- Scripps Research Institute (US)
- Corresponding author
- Joyce, Gerald F.
- ORCID
- Joyce, Gerald F.
- Venue
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
- Publisher
- National Academy of Sciences
- Published
- 2002-09-18
- Volume
- 99
- Issue
- 20
- Pages
- 12733-12740
- ISSN
- 0027-8424 (ISSN-L)
- 1091-6490
- PMC
- PMC130529
- OpenAlex
- W2053143020
- Cited by
- 264
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 9 · 2025: 14 · 2024: 22 · 2023: 8 · 2022: 12 · 2021: 12 · 2020: 13 · 2019: 12 · 2018: 6 · 2017: 10 · 2016: 9 · 2015: 12 · 2014: 11 · 2013: 11 · 2012: 8
- FWCI
- 5.07
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NAG59386)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Origins and Evolution of Life
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › RNA and protein synthesis mechanisms
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › DNA and Biological Computing
- Keywords
- RNA ligation, autocatalysis, RNA catalysis, exponential growth, RNA self-assembly
- MeSH terms
- Base Sequence, Biochemical Phenomena, Biochemistry, Catalysis, Dose-Response Relationship, Drug, Escherichia coli, Kinetics, Molecular Sequence Data, Polynucleotide Ligases, RNA Ligase (ATP), Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid, Time Factors, Transcription, Genetic, RNA, Catalytic, Dimerization
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
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