{"305961":{"#nid":"305961","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Evolution of life\u0027s operating system revealed in detail","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThe evolution of the ribosome, a large molecular structure found in the cells of all species, has been revealed in unprecedented detail in a new study.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAround 4 billion years ago, the first molecules of life came together on the early Earth and formed precursors of modern proteins and RNA. Scientists studying the origin of life have been searching for clues about how these reactions happened. Some of those clues have been found in the ribosome.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe core of the ribosome is essentially the same in all living systems, while the outer regions expand and become complicated as species gain complexity. By digitally peeling back the layers of modern ribosomes in the new study, scientists were able to model the structures of primordial ribosomes.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThe history of the ribosome tells us about the origin of life,\u201d said \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/ww2.chemistry.gatech.edu\/~lw26\/\u0022\u003ELoren Williams\u003C\/a\u003E, a professor in the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the Georgia Institute of Technology.\u0026nbsp; \u201cWe have worked out on a fine level of detail how the ribosome originated and evolved.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe study was sponsored by the NASA Astrobiology Institute and the Center for Ribosomal Origins and Evolution at Georgia Tech. The results were published June 30 in the journal \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.pnas.org\/cgi\/doi\/10.1073\/pnas.1407205111\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003EProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn biology, the genetic information stored in DNA is transcribed into mRNA, which is then shipped out of the cell nucleus. Ribosomes, in all species use mRNA as a blueprint for building all the proteins and enzymes essential to life. The ribosome\u2019s job is called translation.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe common core of the ribosome is essentially the same in humans, yeast, bacteria and archaea \u2013 in all living systems. The Georgia Tech team has shown that as organisms evolve and become more complex, so do their ribosomes. Humans have the largest and most complex ribosomes. But the changes are on the surface \u2013 the heart of a human ribosome the same as in a bacterial ribosome.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThe translation system is the operating system of life,\u201d Williams said. \u201cAt its core the ribosome is the same everywhere. The ribosome is universal biology.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn the new study, Williams and Research Scientist Anton Petrov compared three-dimensional structures of ribosomes from a variety of species of varying biological complexity, including humans, yeast, bacteria and archaea. The researchers found distinct fingerprints in the ribosomes where new structures were added to the ribosomal surface without altering the pre-existing core.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAdditions to the ribosome cause insertion fingerprints. Much like a botanist can carve back twigs and branches on a tree to learn about its growth and age, Petrov and Williams show how segments were continually added to the ribosome without changing the underlying structure.\u0026nbsp; The research team extrapolated the process backwards in time to generate models of simple, primordial ribosomes.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe learned some of the rules of the ribosome, that evolution can change the ribosome as long as it does not mess with its core,\u201d Williams said. \u201cEvolution can add things on, but it can\u2019t change what was already there.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFor a video on the origins and evolution of the ribosome, visit: \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=ei6qGLBTsKM\u0022\u003Ehttps:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=ei6qGLBTsKM\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EThis research is supported by the NASA Astrobiology Institute under award number NNA09DA78A. Any conclusions or opinions are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the sponsoring agency.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ECITATION\u003C\/strong\u003E: Anton S. Petrov, et al., \u201cEvolution of the Ribosome at Atomic Resolution.\u201d (June 2014, PNAS) \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.pnas.org\/cgi\/doi\/10.1073\/pnas.1407205111\u0022\u003Ehttp:\/\/www.pnas.org\/cgi\/doi\/10.1073\/pnas.1407205111\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EResearch News\u003Cbr \/\u003E Georgia Institute of Technology\u003Cbr \/\u003E 177 North Avenue\u003Cbr \/\u003E Atlanta, Georgia\u0026nbsp; 30332-0181\u0026nbsp; USA\u003Cbr \/\u003E \u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/twitter.com\/GTResearchNews\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E@GTResearchNews\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EMedia Relations Contacts\u003C\/strong\u003E: Brett Israel (\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/twitter.com\/btiatl\u0022\u003E@btiatl\u003C\/a\u003E) (404-385-1933) (\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:brett.israel@comm.gatech.edu\u0022\u003Ebrett.israel@comm.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E) or John Toon (404-894-6986) (\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:jtoon@gatech.edu\u0022\u003Ejtoon@gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E)\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWriter\u003C\/strong\u003E: Brett Israel\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":"","field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"The evolution of the ribosome, a large molecular structure found in the cells of all species, has been revealed in unprecedented detail in a new study."}],"uid":"27902","created_gmt":"2014-06-30 11:23:15","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:16:41","author":"Brett Israel","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2014-06-30T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2014-06-30T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"305951":{"id":"305951","type":"image","title":"Ribosome evolution before and after the last universal common ancestor","body":null,"created":"1449244668","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 15:57:48","changed":"1475895015","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:50:15","alt":"Ribosome evolution before and after the last universal common ancestor","file":{"fid":"199725","name":"riboevo.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/riboevo_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/riboevo_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":198976,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/riboevo_0.jpg?itok=bpPqd5II"}}},"media_ids":["305951"],"groups":[{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"}],"categories":[{"id":"141","name":"Chemistry and Chemical Engineering"},{"id":"146","name":"Life Sciences and Biology"}],"keywords":[{"id":"96581","name":"loren wiliams"},{"id":"408","name":"NASA"},{"id":"9854","name":"Origin Of Life"},{"id":"6730","name":"ribosome"},{"id":"96591","name":"ribosome evolution"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"}],"news_room_topics":[{"id":"71881","name":"Science and Technology"}],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EBrett Israel\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E404-385-1933\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:brett.israel@comm.gatech.edu\u0022\u003Ebrett.israel@comm.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["brett.israel@comm.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}