Functional Equivalence between Plant PRORP1 and Bacterial RNase P RNA Raises Questions on Control and Recognition Mechanisms

In this short communication we consider the recent results of the successful substitution of the Escherichia coli RNase P ribonucleic acid (RNA) with the Arabidopsis protein enzyme PRORP1. The interest of this result lies in the fact that a plant protein-only enzyme is able to rescue lethal knock- down of the RNA component of bacterial RNase P. Such findings raise interesting questions as well as theoretical hypotheses as to the control and recognition mechanisms at play in the experimental situation, thus emphasizing the importance of informational processes beside pure physical-chemical ones.