title: Self-sustained replication of an RNA enzyme.
abstract: An RNA enzyme that catalyzes the RNA-templated joining of RNA was converted to a format whereby two enzymes catalyze each other's synthesis from a total of four oligonucleotide substrates. These cross-replicating RNA enzymes undergo self-sustained exponential amplification in the absence of proteins or other biological materials. Amplification occurs with a doubling time of about 1 hour and can be continued indefinitely. Populations of various cross-replicating enzymes were constructed and allowed to compete for a common pool of substrates, during which recombinant replicators arose and grew to dominate the population. These replicating RNA enzymes can serve as an experimental model of a genetic system. Many such model systems could be constructed, allowing different selective outcomes to be related to the underlying properties of the genetic system.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology, Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA.
authors.forename: Tracey A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Lincoln
authors.forename: Gerald F
authors.initials: GF
authors.lastname: Joyce
mesh_terms: D020029:Base Pairing; D055162:Biocatalysis; D019020:Directed Molecular Evolution; D007700:Kinetics; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D009841:Oligonucleotides / Q000378:metabolism*; D011118:Polynucleotide Ligases / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism; D016337:RNA, Catalytic / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D009841:Oligonucleotides; D016337:RNA, Catalytic; D011118:Polynucleotide Ligases; C467725:R3C ligase