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Transfer-RNA: The early adaptor

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Abstract

Evolutionary history of tRNA is studied by comparative sequence analysis of two specified tRNA's at various phylogenetic levels and of tRNA families within four different species. Criteria are developed that allow 1) to distinguish between convergent and divergent evolution, 2) to determine the mechanism of divergence and 3) to estimate the degree of randomization of the variable parts of the sequences. The conclusion of these investigations is that tRNA's represent ancient molecules that existed in the form of a mutant distribution prior to their integration into genomes.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Max-Planck-Institut für Biophysikalische Chemie, D-3400, Göttingen

    Manfred Eigen & Ruthild Winkler-Oswatitsch

Authors
  1. Manfred Eigen
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  2. Ruthild Winkler-Oswatitsch
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Additional information

This and a subsequent paper (“Transfer-RNA-an Early Gene?”) are based on a lecture presented at the occasion of the 80th birthday of Fritz Lipmann at Grignon, France, July 1979.

We are indebted to D. Hellwig for carrying out the various numerical evaluations by help of the computer. W.C. Gardiner was kind enough to read and revise the text and to provide valuable suggestions. Stimulating discussions with A. Dress and D. Hellwig about tree topology were very helpful and are gratefully acknowledged. H. Küntzel and C. Woese kindly provided us with their experimental results prior to publication and M. Sprinzl gave us insight into the latest compilation of tRNA sequence data.

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Eigen, M., Winkler-Oswatitsch, R. Transfer-RNA: The early adaptor. Naturwissenschaften 68, 217–228 (1981). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01047323

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