TOWARDS A CONSISTENT CHRONOLOGY TO EXPLAIN THE EVOLUTION OF THE RIBOSOME

Abstract

The ribosome is a molecular witness to the origin of life as it comprises the conserved mechanism for the translation of nucleic acid gene sequences into proteins in all living creatures. The large subunit is reducible to a core peptidyl-transferase structure, which is proposed as its ancestral form. A model of hierarchical addition of E. coli 23S rRNA modular inserts was recently proposed to explain ribosomal evolution from this core structure, however large numbers of alternative chronologies are possible. Our refinement of this model using the Design Structure Matrix (DSM) provides a surprisingly detailed picture of the transitional events. Similar methods can be adapted to the chronology model of ribosome small subunit of E. coli, with which, the evolutionary story of the integrated E. coli ribosome can be presented as a 3D animation using Autodesk Maya. It would enlarge our knowledge about the RNA world approximately 3.8 billion years ago.