Structure that links amino acids suggests that early organisms could have been based on an RNA–protein mix.
, which proposes that before the evolution of DNA and the proteins it encodes, the first organisms were based on strands of RNA, a molecule that can both store genetic information — as sequences of the nucleosides A, C, G and U — and act as a catalyst for chemical reactions.
Unlike most enzymes, the ribosome itself is made of not only proteins, but also segments of RNA — and these have an important role in synthesizing proteins. Moreover, the ribosome contains modified versions of the standard RNA nucleosides A, C, G, and U. These exotic nucleosides have long been seen as possible vestiges of a primordial broth.
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