English (United Kingdom)

https://curated-unify.zendy.io/wp-json/zendy-region/v1/featured_content/oa?rat=en

https://curated-unify.zendy.io/wp-json/zendy-region/v1/highlighted_journal/

Global: Zendy Tools annual

Presents the keyphrase highlighting as premium feature

Keyphrase Highlighting

Presents the summarisation as premium feature

Summarisation

Insights

Presents the pdf analysis as premium feature

PDF Analysis

Presents the zaia usage as premium feature

ZAIA

Global: Zendy Tools monthly

Global: Zendy Plus monthly

Presents the access of premium content as premium feature

Premium Content

Global: Zendy Plus annual

Global: Zendy Free Plan

The RNA world hypothesis, that RNA genomes and catalysts preceded DNA genomesand genetically-encoded protein catalysts, has been central to models for theearly evolution of life on Earth. A key part of such models is continuitybetween the earliest stages in the evolution of life and the RNA repertoires ofextant lineages. Some assessments seem consistent with a diverse RNA world, yetdirect continuity between modern RNAs and an RNA world has not beendemonstrated for the majority of RNA families, and, anecdotally, many RNAfunctions appear restricted in their distribution. Despite much discussion ofthe possible antiquity of RNA families, no systematic analyses of RNA familydistribution have been performed. To chart the broad evolutionary history ofknown RNA families, we performed comparative genomic analysis of over 3 millionRNA annotations spanning 1446 families from the Rfam 10 database. We reportthat 99% of known RNA families are restricted to a single domain of life,revealing discrete repertoires for each domain. For the 1% of RNAfamilies/clans present in more than one domain, over half show evidence ofhorizontal gene transfer, and the rest show a vertical trace, indicating thepresence of a complex protein synthesis machinery in the Last Universal CommonAncestor (LUCA) and consistent with the evolutionary history of the mostancient protein-coding genes. However, with limited interdomain transfer andfew RNA families exhibiting demonstrable antiquity as predicted under RNA worldcontinuity, our results indicate that the majority of modern cellular RNArepertoires have primarily evolved in a domain-specific manner.

Comparative Analysis of RNA Families Reveals Distinct Repertoires for Each Domain of Life