RNA-directed amino acid coupling as a model reaction for primitive coded translation

Abstract

The stereochemical theory claims that primitive coded translation initially occurred in the RNA world by RNA-directed amino acid coupling. In this study, we show that the HIV Tat aptamer RNA is capable of recognizing two consecutive arginine residues within the Tat peptide, thus demonstrating how RNA might be able to position two amino acids for sequence-specific coupling. We also show that this RNA can act as a template to accelerate the coupling of a single arginine residue to the N-terminal arginine residue of a peptide primer. The results might have implications for our understanding of the origin of translation.

Keywords: RNA recognition; RNA-amino acid interactions; molecular evolution; peptide bond formation; translation.