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RNA‐Directed Amino Acid Coupling as a Model Reaction for Primitive Coded Translation
Author(s) -
Harada Kazuo,
Aoyama Shoko,
Matsugami Akimasa,
Kumar Penmetcha K. R.,
Katahira Masato,
Kato Nobuo,
Ohkanda Junko
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
chembiochem
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.05
H-Index - 126
eISSN - 1439-7633
pISSN - 1439-4227
DOI - 10.1002/cbic.201400029
Subject(s) - rna , amino acid , translation (biology) , arginine , aptamer , residue (chemistry) , peptide , chemistry , biochemistry , biology , stereochemistry , genetics , messenger rna , gene
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.