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How did life begin? One key ingredient is coming into view A Nobel-prizewinning scientist’s team has taken a big step forward in its quest to reconstruct an early-Earth RNA capable of building proteins. Amber Dance, Nature News, February 28, 2023 Ancient protein study reveals how natural selection predates life itself By Michael Irving, News Atlas, February 28, 2023 Ancient protein study reveals how natural selection predates life itself John Hopkins University, February 28, 2023 One paper is: Makarov, M., Sanchez Rocha, A.C., Krystufek, R., Cherepashuk, I., Dzmitruk, V., Charnavets, T., Faustino, A.M., Lebl, M., Fujishima, K., Fried, S.D. and Hlouchova, K., 2022. Early selection of the amino acid alphabet was adaptively shaped by biophysical constraints of foldability. Jounral of the American Chemical Society. Abstract of paywalled paper PDF of Preprint Yours, Paul H.
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I am new to the forum and I am presenting ideas that I have been thinking about in relation to dinosaurs and dinosaur fossils. One idea that intrigues me is the idea of fossil DNA. I don't mean physical nucleotides that might be found in or around dinosaur fossils. I mean ancient DNA or RNA sequences that might be preserved in the "non-coding" DNA of the dinosaur descendants, birds. DNA and RNA are basically scripting languages for building and activating proteins. When we think of evolution, we mostly think in terms of the evolution of organisms. But there is a meta-evolution of DNA and RNA themselves. Among the other things I do, I write encryption and decryption programs. These are ways to hide and reveal meaningful sequences of information, for later use. It would make sense to me that mutations, particularly successful ones, should be preserved in the DNA record. Obviously they are, in evolutionary successful organisms. But what about when a new mutation appears and replaces an existing gene or set of genes Why not transmute the no-longer-used coding genes and epigenes and store them, within a set of markers, in the noncoding section of the DNA. Perhaps under certain environmental stresses, such as scarce food or overabundant food, the organism responds with mutation activation process that both create random new DNA sequences, as well as reactivating previously successful ones to try them out in the current environment. Perhaps inside every ostrich, the fossil genes for one or many species of dinosaur lie waiting to be revealed. While this might seem like a hint at intelligent design, languages can capture random changes and make them part of the structure over time. A good example of this is the aging of most animals. The process of the individual organism developing senescence was incorporated into our gene line many millions of years ago. The environmental advantage for it is that it allows younger organisms to compete successfully with older organisms, which allows more rapid evolution. From the point of view of the individual organism, aging is an always deadly genetic disease. Without this programmed process, we might live extremely long lives. Molecules do not get tired, and chemicals do not run out of steam. In this view, every organism is a GMO. The process of evolution is enhanced and accelerated by as yet unknown genetically-driven designs. Evolution is not a completely random process. If this encoding exists it should show up with some investigation. I am sure the first billion years were the hardest. -Brad Jensen
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Scientists announce a breakthrough in determining life's origin on Earth—and maybe Mars Foundation for Applied Molecular Evolution, June 3, 2022 The open access paper is: Craig A. Jerome, Hyo-Joong Kim, Stephen J. Mojzsis, Steven A. Benner, and Elisa Biondi. Catalytic Synthesis of Polyribonucleic Acid on Prebiotic Rock Glasses Astrobiology. ahead of print http://doi.org/10.1089/ast.2022.0027 Yours, Paul H.
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Inosine could be a potential route to the first RNA and the origin of life on Earth Harvard University, December 3, 2018, https://phys.org/news/2018-12-inosine-potential-route-rna-life.html The paper is: Seohyun Chris Kim, Derek K. O’Flaherty, Lijun Zhou, Victor S. Lelyveld, and Jack W. Szostak, 2018, Inosine, but none of the 8-oxo-purines, is a plausible component of a primordial version of RNA. PNAS published ahead of print December 3, 2018 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1814367115 Yours, Paul H.
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Did Meteorites ( and Darwin's Little Warm Ponds) Start Life ?
Oxytropidoceras posted a topic in Fossil News
Evidence suggests life on Earth started after meteorites splashed into warm little ponds, PhysOrg, October 2, 2017 https://phys.org/news/2017-10-evidence-life-earth-meteorites-splashed.html How did Life Start? Meteorites crashing into Darwin's Little Warm Ponds May Have been Trigger, by Megham Bartels, Newsweek. http://www.newsweek.com/2017/10/27/how-did-life-start-meteorites-crashing-darwins-warm-little-ponds-was-possible-675655.html The paper is: Pearce, B.K., Pudritz, R.E., Semenov, D.A. and Henning, T.K., 2017. Origin of the RNA world: The fate of nucleobases in warm little ponds. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 114 no. 43, pp. 11327-11332 http://www.pnas.org/content/114/43/11327 https://arxiv.org/pdf/1710.00434.pdf Yours, Paul H.- 2 replies
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