ArticlePNAS nexus2026
A symbiotic origin of the ribosome?
Article in PNAS nexus, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed.
- Article
- Parasites constrain within-population diversification while accelerating between-population divergence in an RNA replication system.Molecular biology and evolution · 2026Article
- Coevolution of Codependent Hosts and Symbionts.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- The Emergence of Life in the Light of Evolution.ArXiv · 2026Article
- The selfish ribosome.PLoS biology · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
Abstract
The origin of life is one of the great mysteries of science. Of the multiple unsolved problems, the origin of the translation system (the means by which the genetic code inscribed on chromosomes is converted into reliable protein sequences) remains the most enigmatic. A resolution of this problem is unlikely to be advanced by focusing on the features of the complex system found in today's species, as the reliable production of complex proteins could not possibly have been the function of the earliest ribosome. Although exact answers may be beyond reach, we propose that the protoribosome was a parasite that through mutually constrained coevolution with the host eventually led to the emergence of a molecular machine no longer reflecting its simpler beginnings. If this view is correct, then like the spliceosome and perhaps the mitochondrion in the stem eukaryote, a repurposed host-parasite interaction led to a dramatic change in cell biology at the base of the tree of life, in this case leading to the exit from a largely RNA world.
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.