RNP world
The RNP world is a hypothesized intermediate period in the origin of life characterized by the existence of ribonucleoproteins.[1] The period followed the hypothesized RNA world and ended with the formation of DNA and contemporary proteins.[2] During this time, RNA molecules continued to perform many essential functions, but began to synthesize peptides, which eventually assumed most of the function of those RNA molecules, leading to life as we know it.[3]
References
- ^ Cech, Thomas R. (July 2012). "The RNA Worlds in Context". Cold Spring Harbor Perspectives in Biology. 4 (7). doi:10.1101/cshperspect.a006742. ISSN 1943-0264. PMC 3385955. PMID 21441585.
- ^ Schimmel, Paul (March 2011). "The RNP bridge between two worlds". Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology. 12 (3): 135–135. doi:10.1038/nrm3061. ISSN 1471-0080.
- ^ Cech, Thomas R. (2009-02-20). "Crawling Out of the RNA World". Cell. 136 (4): 599–602. doi:10.1016/j.cell.2009.02.002. ISSN 0092-8674.