Re:RNA Memory Hypothesis
by monkeycantype on Thursday February 04, 2021 @06:55PM
(#26031232)
>that does not exclude some memory being stored elsewhere
If RNA is not simply the conduit between DNA and protein, but the original biological operating system, from which many functions have been refactored out to DNA and protein it's fascinating to think about what other functions may have existed and may still exist entirely in RNA.
I like to assume that RNA is the original biological information store, the original structural material and the original catalyst. DNA is the long term cache version of RNA information, and protein the improved structural and catalytic material.
The information in RNA can be translated directly to and from DNA, and there is an interesting idea that the mapping from RNA codon to amino acid may have began directly on the RNA strand, some RNA sequences seem to have an affinity for certain amino acids.
If RNA is not simply the conduit between DNA and protein, but the original biological operating system, from which many functions have been refactored out to DNA and protein it's fascinating to think about what other functions may have existed and may still exist entirely in RNA.
I like to assume that RNA is the original biological information store, the original structural material and the original catalyst. DNA is the long term cache version of RNA information, and protein the improved structural and catalytic material. The information in RNA can be translated directly to and from DNA, and there is an interesting idea that the mapping from RNA codon to amino acid may have began directly on the RNA strand, some RNA sequences seem to have an affinity for certain amino acids.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK26876/#_A1136_