Abstract 2910 Unraveling Complexity: Discovery of Multiple Ligase Ribozymes from Single RNA Evolution Experiment

The earliest forms of life are thought to have used RNA to constitute their genomes and as enzymes (ribozymes). It is expected that the ability to assemble RNA from shorter pieces would have been the most important enzymatic function in RNA-based biology. In our continuing efforts to understand the scope of RNA-catalyzed RNA assembly, we used directed evolution to convert a ligase ribozyme, which uses RNA substrates that are 5′ activated with the prebiotically relevant phosphorimidazole group, to a new ribozyme, which catalyzes ligation with RNA substrates that are 5′ activated with the biologically relevant triphosphate group.