The antibiotic viomycin as a model peptide for the origin of the co-evolution of RNA and proteins.
Viomycin is an RNA-binding peptide antibiotic which inhibits prokaryotic protein synthesis and group I intron self-splicing. This antibiotic enhances the activity of the ribozyme derived from the Neurospora crassa VS RNA, and at sub-inhibitory concentrations it induces the formation of group I intron oligomers. Here, we address the question whether viomycin exerts specificity in the promotion of RNA-RNA interactions. In an in vitro selection experiment we tested the ability of viomycin to specifically select molecules out of an RNA pool. Group I intron RNA was incubated with a pool of random sequence RNA, or with a pool of RNA molecules which had previously been enriched for viomycin-binding RNAs. Viomycin was added in order to select viomycin-binding RNAs and to guide their interaction with the intron RNA resulting in recombinant molecules. Viomycin was indeed capable of specifically selecting RNA molecules which contain viomycin-binding sites promoting recombination. These results suggest that small peptides are able to play the role of selector molecules in a putative 'RNA World' launching the co-evolution of RNA and proteins into an 'RNA-protein World'.
Wank
H
H
Institute of Microbiology and Genetics, University of Vienna, Austria.
Clodi
E
E
Wallis
M G
MG
Schroeder
R
R
D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000737:chemistry*; D001483:Base Sequence; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D007438:Introns; D008956:Models, Chemical; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D011506:Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D012313:RNA / Q000378:metabolism; D012326:RNA Splicing; D014756:Viomycin / Q000737:chemistry*
D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D011506:Proteins; D012313:RNA; D014756:Viomycin