Briefly describe the RNA world hypothesis with an example. / Beskriv kortfattat RNA-världs-hypotesen genom ett exempel. (Max 100 words.)
Answer
The RNA world hypothesis describes how living things has gone from using only RNA as storage of genetic material and catalyzing chemical processes (ribozymes) to being close to solely depending on proteins to catalyze many important chemical processes.
One example is the enzyme RNAse P which function is cleave the 5´ end of tRNA-molecules. In bacteria the enzyme consits of almost only RNA and very little proteins (which are not even essentiall to the function). In archea there is less RNA and more protein, and in eukaryotes proteins make up the largest part of the enzyme. This is aligned with the hypothesis.