This work on a RNA polymerase ribozyme is along the lines of the presentation topic today in CH795-06. The authors make use of directed evolution and screen products with a water-in-oil emulsion system called "compartmentalized bead tagging" (CBT). Here, the authors use a recombinant ribozyme to create a general RNA polymerase that can copy many various RNA sequences. By ultimately using it to replicate another ribozyme, they support the viability of the RNA world hypothesis, where RNA constitutes transcript, enzyme, and product.
Very cool! I didn't realize that people had already evolved an RNA-based RNA polymerase in 2001 (http://www.sciencemag.org/content/292/5520/1319.full). Pretty amazing what RNA can do...
ReplyDeleteThis is indeed a cool paper! Its a great follow up to the discussion we had in class. The droplet based strategy was key here - allowing multiple turnovers to be performed. There have been several other important papers in the last decade that serve to fill in the missing gaps in the 'fossil record', check out papers by Gerald Joyce, David Bartel, and Jack Szostak...
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