RNA molecules in the primordial soup could have been highly reactive
Nat. Comm.: Not only proteins, but also RNA molecules could have contributed to important catalytic functions during the creation of life.
The working group led by Prof Dr Roland Winter from the Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at TU Dortmund University has investigated the influence of pressure on the reactivity of a ribozyme in collaboration with the theory group of Prof Dr Dominik Marx at Ruhr-Universität Bochum. Ribozymes are active ribonucleic acid molecules in cells that reinforce, i.e. catalyse, chemical reactions in a similar way to proteinaceous enzymes.
