title: tRNA Core Hypothesis for the Transition from the RNA World to the Ribonucleoprotein World.
abstract: Herein we present the tRNA core hypothesis, which emphasizes the central role of tRNAs molecules in the origin and evolution of fundamental biological processes. tRNAs gave origin to the first genes (mRNA) and the peptidyl transferase center (rRNA), proto-tRNAs were at the core of a proto-translation system, and the anticodon and operational codes then arose in tRNAs molecules. Metabolic pathways emerged from evolutionary pressures of the decoding systems. The transitions from the RNA world to the ribonucleoprotein world to modern biological systems were driven by three kinds of tRNAs transitions, to wit, tRNAs leading to both mRNA and rRNA.
authors.affiliation: Laboratório de Genética Evolutiva Paulo Leminsk, Departamento de Biologia Molecular, Universidade Federal da Paraíba, João Pessoa 58051-900, Brazil. stfarias@yahoo.com.br.
authors.forename: Savio T
authors.initials: ST
authors.lastname: de Farias
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Informática, Universidade Federal da Paraíba, João Pessoa 58051-900, Brazil. thaisgaudencio@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Thais G
authors.initials: TG
authors.lastname: Rêgo
authors.affiliation: Theoretical Biology Group, Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, México 04510, Mexico. marcojose@biomedicas.unam.mx.
authors.forename: Marco V
authors.initials: MV
authors.lastname: José
keywords: origin of life; ribosome; tRNA; translation system