2016 : WHAT DO YOU CONSIDER THE MOST INTERESTING RECENT NEWS? WHAT MAKES IT IMPORTANT?

198 Contributors submit articles to Edge

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CrazyNeutrino said:

2016 : WHAT DO YOU CONSIDER THE MOST INTERESTING RECENT NEWS? WHAT MAKES IT IMPORTANT?

198 Contributors submit articles to Edge

more…

Have you seen this?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_in_science

mollwollfumble said:

CrazyNeutrino said:

2016 : WHAT DO YOU CONSIDER THE MOST INTERESTING RECENT NEWS? WHAT MAKES IT IMPORTANT?

198 Contributors submit articles to Edge

more…

Have you seen this?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_in_science

The first one on the list is startlingly interesting.

“2 January – A study published in Science shows evidence that a protein partially assembles another protein without genetic instructions. Defying textbook science, amino acids (the building blocks of a protein) can be assembled by another protein and without genetic instructions.”

Nobody seems to have twigged that this protein is probably the worlds oldest fossil. A problem with the origin of life is that proteins and nucleic acids can only develop abiotically in totally incompatible environments. And proteins are far easier to make abiotically.

Here we have a protein that makes proteins on its own without any instructions from nucleic acids. So could be a relic from a form of carbon-based life that existed before the first nucleic acids got incorporated into cells. To clinch the idea, this protein is one of the ones that bind to the m-RNA protein generating machinery in modern cells.

That strongly suggests that proteins generated by proteins came first, then was modified rather than initially replaced by RNA binding to those proteins. And then RNA took over the encoding role. Finally, we have a realistic sequence of events leading from the first amino acids to the first bacteria/archaea.

Unfortunately, then scientific paper about this protein http://healthcare.utah.edu/publicaffairs/news/2015/01/1-01-15-New-Function-for-Proteins.php only talks about the health implications.

Further research is needed into finding more proteins like this one (Rqc2) that generate proteins that include more than just alanine and threonine. The scientific method would be one of deliberate modification of Rqc2.

Yes, very interesting, had not seen that one before, thanks