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The structure of the ribosome has been called the "smoking gun", with a central core of RNA and no amino acid side chains within 18 Å of the active site that catalyzes peptide bond formation. [184] [180] [185] The concept of the RNA world was proposed in 1962 by Alexander Rich, [186] and the term was coined by Walter Gilbert in 1986.
A second version of the central dogma is popular but incorrect. This is the simplistic DNA → RNA → protein pathway published by James Watson in the first edition of The Molecular Biology of the Gene (1965). Watson's version differs from Crick's because Watson describes a two-step (DNA → RNA and RNA → protein) process as the central ...
In 1952, Alfred Hershey and Martha Chase confirmed that the genetic material of the bacteriophage, the virus which infects bacteria, is made up of DNA [4] (see Hershey–Chase experiment). In 1953, James Watson and Francis Crick discovered the double helical structure of the DNA molecule based on the discoveries made by Rosalind Franklin. [5]
The integrity of the DNA was maintained by a group of repair enzymes including DNA topoisomerase. [20] If the genetic code was based on dual-stranded DNA, it was expressed by copying the information to single-stranded RNA. The RNA was produced by a DNA-dependent RNA polymerase using nucleotides similar to those of DNA. [15]
Patrick Forterre has been working on a novel hypothesis, called "three viruses, three domains": [99] that viruses were instrumental in the transition from RNA to DNA and the evolution of Bacteria, Archaea, and Eukaryota. He believes the last universal common ancestor [99] was RNA-based and evolved RNA viruses. Some of the viruses evolved into ...
In accordance with the central dogma of molecular biology, RNA passes information between the DNA of a genome and the proteins expressed within an organism. [1] Therefore, from an evolutionary standpoint, a mutation within the DNA bases results in an alteration of the RNA transcripts, which in turn leads to a direct difference in phenotype. RNA ...
Watson called this problem "the mysteries of life" in his letter to Crick. [3] Watson and Alexander Rich discussed in the PNAS, saying, "We shall not be able to check a structural relationship between RNA and protein synthesis or between RNA and DNA until we know the structure of RNA." [5]
The ability of RNA molecules to adopt specific tertiary structures is essential for their biological activity, and results from the single-stranded nature of RNA. In many ways, RNA folding is more highly analogous to the folding of proteins rather than to the highly repetitive folded structure of the DNA double helix. [12]