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Article: Molecular origins and the null hypothesis: motifs from our Maker?(Evolution: A Molecular Point of View)(includes discussion)
- Article from:
- The Biological Bulletin
- Article date:
- June 1, 1999
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1999 Marine Biological Laboratory. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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A comparative examination of the sequences and functions of molecules can reveal clues as to their origins. However, the unity of modern biochemistry makes it likely that most extant molecules descend from an organismal singularity known as the progenote, the last common ancestor of modern life. The progenote was already complex, containing a variety of enzymes and cofactors; multiple metabolic pathways; and replication, transcription, and translation apparatuses. Because nucleic acids and nucleic acid cofactors are prevalent in basal metabolic processes ranging from redox reactions to translation, one of the progenote's predecessors has been hypothesized to have lived in ...