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Researchers: Ribosome translational system dates back to earliest Earth

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The ribosome in relation to other cell parts/ Nicolle Rager, National Science Foundation

From ScienceDaily:

So audacious was Marcus Bray’s experiment that even he feared it would fail.

In the system inside cells that translates genetic code into life, he replaced about 1,000 essential linchpins with primitive substitutes to see if the translational system would survive and function. It seemed impossible, yet it worked swimmingly, and Bray had compelling evidence that the great builder of proteins was active in the harsh conditions in which it evolved 4 billion years ago.

The experiment’s success reaffirmed the translational system’s place at the earliest foundations of life on Earth.

Every living thing exists because the translational system receives messages from DNA delivered to it by RNA and translates the messages into proteins. The system centers on a cellular machine called the ribosome, which is made of multiple large molecules of RNA and protein and is ubiquitous in life as we know it.

“There’s nothing alive without ribosomes,” said Loren Williams, a professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology’s School of Chemistry and Biochemistry. “The ribosome is about the oldest and most universal part of biology, and its origins go very far back to a time not too long after Earth had formed and cooled.”

Amazingly, the atomic swaps barely changed the shape of the ribosome.

“It’s totally unbelievable this would work because biology makes very specific use of things. Change one atom and it can wreck a whole protein,” Williams said. “When we probed the structure, we saw that all three metals do essentially the same thing to the structure.”

“Surrounding the ribosome is also a huge cloud of magnesium atoms. It’s called an atmosphere, or shell, and engulfs it completely. I replaced everything, including that, and the whole system still worked.”Paper. (open access) – Marcus S. Bray, Timothy K. Lenz, Jay William Haynes, Jessica C. Bowman, Anton S. Petrov, Amit R. Reddi, Nicholas V. Hud, Loren Dean Williams, Jennifer B. Glass. Multiple prebiotic metals mediate translation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2018; 201803636 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1803636115 More.

So the system is flexible enough to work despite substitutions of parts.

Note: The “experiment corroborates translational system’s place at earliest foundations of life on Earth”? What are the chances of evolving it randomly by a series of steps? And if that could happen, why isn’t it happening all the time, everywhere (spontaneous generation)?

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See also: Mitochondria have their own ribosomes as well as their own DNA

and

Ribosome precisely structured for cell growth

Comments
KF @1, Very valid point. Thanks.jawa
November 18, 2018
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If this is the case: “The ribosome is about the oldest and most universal part of biology, and its origins go very far back to a time not too long after Earth had formed and cooled.” Then how much time was available for RV+NS to produce the ribosomes? The quoted statement doesn’t help neodarwinism at all. How did they dare to write such a thing? Where were the peer reviewers? Weren’t they supposed to screen out such a compromising text? Any damage control procedure still available at this point? Should they reject the whole paper as incoherent? :)jawa
November 18, 2018
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This is an expected result of Intelligent Design- meaning we would expect the ribosome to fully functional from the get-go. Without it there wouldn't be any living organisms.ET
November 17, 2018
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News, notice how the implications of "translation" -- alphanumeric textual codes, algorithms, so language and goal-directed actions -- are not drawn out? Language in the form of alphanumeric text is an exceedingly strong sign of intelligence and design in action. Here, evidently from the roots of cell based life. KF PS: Note my recent OP: https://uncommondescent.com/the-design-of-life/logic-first-principles-analogy-induction-and-the-power-of-the-principle-of-identity-with-application-to-the-genetic-code/kairosfocus
November 17, 2018
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