This is what a phylogenetic tree looks like whose origin (middle) goes back two billion years. The tips of the branches each represent the enzyme of a modern organism. Photo: Diana Smikalla
This is what a phylogenetic tree looks like whose origin ( middle ) goes back two billion years. The tips of the branches each represent the enzyme of a modern organism. Photo: Diana Smikalla Basic researchers at Leipzig University have solved a puzzle in the evolution of bacterial enzymes. By reconstructing a candidate for a special RNA polymerase as it existed about two billion years ago, they were able to explain a hitherto puzzling property of the corresponding modern enzymes. Unlike their ancestors, they do not work continuously and are thus significantly more effective - these pauses in activity constitute evolutionary progress. The reconstruction of the protein from prehistoric times was made possible thanks to interdisciplinary cooperation between molecular biochemistry and bioinformatics. The research findings have been published in the renowned journal -Molecular Biology and Evolution-.
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