On the Dimerization of the Primitive tRNAs: Implications in the Origin of Genetic Code

Abstract

RNAs that catalyse their own aminoacylation have been recently selected in vitro. These findings support the notion that the primitive aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases may have been RNAs. In this paper, we propose a structural model for the first aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase consisting of an RNA complex formed between two primitive tRNA molecules through two intermolecular loop-strand interactions, and with implications in the origin of the genetic code.