Transfer-RNA, an early gene?
The theory of self-reproductive molecular systems involves the consequence that translation must have started from a selected distribution of RNA molecules, that comprised GC-rich sequences of a length less than 100 nucleotides. This implies a joint function of messenger and adaptor, which both had to be recruited from the same mutant distribution. The reconstruction of tRNA precursors yields such a molecule showing some reverberation of a codon pattern GNC. These findings suggest that tRNA has been the earliest component of the translation machinery.
D001483:Base Sequence; D005075:Biological Evolution; D003062:Codon / Q000235:genetics; D005796:Genes; D005815:Genetic Code; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D014176:Protein Biosynthesis; D012343:RNA, Transfer / Q000235:genetics*; D012091:Repetitive Sequences, Nucleic Acid
D003062:Codon; D012343:RNA, Transfer