A vestige of a prebiotic bonding machine is functioning within the contemporary ribosome

Abstract

Based on the presumed capability of a prebiotic pocket-like entity to accommodate substrates whose stereochemistry enables the creation of chemical bonds, it is suggested that a universal symmetrical region identified within all contemporary ribosomes originated from an entity that we term the 'proto-ribosome'. This 'proto-ribosome' could have evolved from an earlier machine that was capable of performing essential tasks in the RNA world, called here the 'pre-proto-ribosome', which was adapted for producing proteins. © 2011 The Royal Society.