Discovery of RNA-Based Self-Reproducers From an Experimental-Computational Dialogue

Authors: Opuu V, Lambert C, Merleau NSC, Smerlak M, Nghe P

Published in: AbSciCon 2022 (2022)

Citations: New

Abstract:
The origin of life requires self-replicating molecules capable of both information storage and catalysis — properties embodied by RNA. This study combines wet-lab experiments with computational RNA design to discover short RNA sequences capable of self-reproduction in vitro. Evolutionary algorithms propose candidate sequences, which are synthesized and tested experimentally, creating a productive dialogue between computation and experiment that identifies novel self-reproducing RNA motifs.