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- Title
Alarmones as Vestiges of a Bygone RNA World.
- Authors
Hernández-Morales, Ricardo; Becerra, Arturo; Lazcano, Antonio
- Abstract
All known alarmones are ribonucleotides or ribonucleotide derivatives that are synthesized when cells are under stress conditions, triggering a stringent response that affects major processes such as replication, gene expression, and metabolism. The ample phylogenetic distribution of alarmones (e.g., cAMP, Ap(n)A, cGMP, AICAR, and ZTP) suggests that they are very ancient molecules that may have already been present in cellular systems prior to the evolutionary divergence of the Archaea, Bacteria, and Eukarya domains. Their chemical structure, wide biological distribution, and functional role in highly conserved cellular processes support the possibility that these modified nucleotides are molecular fossils of an epoch in the evolution of chemical signaling and metabolite sensing during which RNA molecules played a much more conspicuous role in biological catalysis and genetic information.
- Subjects
ARCHAEBACTERIA; RIBONUCLEOTIDES; GENE expression; EUKARYOTES; RNA
- Publication
Journal of Molecular Evolution, 2019, Vol 87, Issue 1, p37
- ISSN
0022-2844
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1007/s00239-018-9883-3