An RNA Polymerase Ribozyme that Synthesizes its Own Ancestor

As part of an examination of a newly-evolved RNA polymerase ribozyme, 38-6, products of primer extension experiments using an RNA template encoding the hammerhead RNA endonuclease ribozyme, using 38-6 and its less active ancestor 24-3. These products were analyzed by next-generation sequencing to determine the rates of substitution, deletion, and insertion mutations for both polymerases. Overall design: RNA primer extension products using the 38-6 and 24-3 polymerase ribozymes were converted into cDNA libraries, sequenced on an Illumina Miniseq, and analyzed to determine the rates of mutation across the length of the sequence synthesized by the polymerases.