Origins of the protein synthesis machinery: a genomics and structural perspective

The protein synthesis machinery is believed to have largely evolved before the last common ancestor of life on Earth as we know it. Thus, an understanding of ribosomal history will provide insight to the transition period between the last common ancestor and the RNA World. It is argued here that much of this history has been preserved in the primary sequences and three-dimensional structures of the various ribosomal components. In order to understand this history, it is necessary to identify timing insights that can provide clues to the relative age of various aspects of the ribosomal machinery. Such information can be obtained in a variety of ways. Several examples of how such information might be obtained are discussed. Finally, a tentative outline of the order of major events in ribosome history is presented.

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