Biology 1202B Lecture Notes - Lecture 16: Royal Naval Air Service, Phospholipid, Rna World
Document Summary
Rna: complex processes, requires involvement of enzymes, which catalyze the transcription of dna into rna and the translation of the rna into protein. Rna world hypothesis- early life where a singly type of molecule, rna, could serve as a carrier of information and structurally similar to a protein: rna stored genetic information, rna catalyzed chemical reactions (ribozyme) o. Dna took over as genetic material (more chemically stable, double stranded, thymine) Proteins became the major catalysts for reaction: building blocks of the cell. Life requires the ability to catalyze reactions that lead, directly or indirectly to the production of more molecules like themselves. Rna has the unique potential to act as both information carrier and catalyst: assembly of rna polymers in the rna world is random. Single stranded rna can fold into highly elaborate structures. Most of these 3d shapes are formed by complementary base-pairing. Generate large pool of random dna: transcribe. Designed to simulate evolution on a small scale.