Evolution of Organisms and Organelles as Studied by Comparative Computer and Biochemical Analyses of Ribosomal 5S RNA Structure

Abstract

The results documented in this publication demonstrate that for evolutionary studies the ribosomal 5S rRNA is a suitable object for such an investigation and that as many methods as possible should be consulted. In this study the results of biochemical and chemical experiments were combined with those of computer sequence analyses, and they revealed that these methods complement each other nicely. We are currently at a state at which we are able to well define the secondary structures of the 5S rRNAs for eubacteria, organelles, archaebacteria, and eukaryotes and we are even able to propose a secondary structure for a Ur-5S rRNA. It is also clear that in the future the present studies should be continued and extended in such a way that the tertiary structures of these molecules will become known.