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Evolution of Catalytic RNA and the Origins of Life (Partial)
PI: Joyce, Gerald
This proposal concerns work that is part of a larger NASA-sponsored effort to understand the origin of life on Earth, which will guide the search for life elsewhere in the solar system. The proposed research pertains to a form of RNA-based life, usually referred to as the “RNA world”, that likely existed during Earth’s early history. RNA-based life can be simulated, and perhaps even constructed, in the laboratory through the in vitro Darwinian evolution of RNA enzymes. The central process of the RNA world was the replication of RNA, catalyzed by RNA. Accordingly, the primary objective of the proposed research is to develop an RNA enzyme with RNA replicase activity. If such an enzyme has the ability to produce additional copies of itself, then the evolution of RNA could operate in a self-sustained manner and the origin of life will have been realized in the laboratory. Two models for RNA-catalyzed RNA replication will be investigated, one involving the template-directed polymerization of activated nucleotides, and the other involving the joining of oligonucleotides by modular assembly. In addition, the operation of RNA evolution itself will be examined to gain insight into the adaptability of RNA and the behavior of Darwinian systems at the molecular level.
