The spliceosome and the ribosome help catalyze many chemical reactions in cells

Question

The spliceosome and the ribosome help catalyze many chemical reactions in cells alive today, including the splicing reaction to remove mRNA introns and the peptide bond formation. Respectively. Recently the 3-dimensional structure of a yeast splicesosome was solved at a high 3.6 angstrom resolution, giving a close-up view of the 37 proteins that 4 RNA molecules make up the spliceosome machine (Yan et al.. 2C1S). In 20C9. the Nobel Prize was awarded to scientists who discovered high resolution structures of the bacterial ribosome, which also consists of both RNA and protein components. In both the splicesome and the ribosome structures, the active site is dominated by RNA while the proteins appear to serve more structural roles along the periphery. This spatial arrangement has led some scientists to conclude that the spliceosome and ribosome are actually ribozymes. If true, how could the existence of these ribozymes be used to support the RNA world hypothesis?

Explanation / Answer

The RNA world hypothesis states that RNA is the precursor of all things on earth.

Since it is similar to DNA and has catalytic properties we can say that it is a strong point in favor of the RNA world hypothesis.In spliceosomes, snRNA molecules are the main molecules which splice the mRNA. In ribosomes, the RNA molecules play a very important role in transcription and translation.

Hence, since in both these circumstances RNA plays the vital role, we can say that these are in favor of the RNA world hypothesis. RNA is a main part in most important cellular processes. Hence we can say that the world might have descended first from RNA. RNA might have evolved to DNA which might have become the genome due to its stability.

Related Questions

Navigate

• Browse (All)
• Browse T
• Subjects

---

---

Integrity-first tutoring: explanations and feedback only — we do not complete graded work. Learn more.