It is assumed that modern life forms arose from a molecular ancestor in which RNA molecules both stored genetic information and catalyzed biochemical reactions. In modern cells, these functions are carried out, respectively, by DNA and proteins, but diverse cellular RNAs are also involved in key cellular functions. In this paper, we review the cellular RNAs that are ubiquitous and/or that perform essential biological functions, and we discuss the evolutionary relationships of such RNAs with a prebiotic RNA world. This unexpected biological diversity of cellular RNAs and the crucial functions they perform in cellular metabolism demonstrate the complexity of an RNA-driven metabolism in an ancient RNA world and in modern life. Cellular RNAs are involved in translation (tRNA and rRNA) but also in ribosome maturation (snoRNA) and more generally in RNA processing (snRNA and snoRNA), replication (telomerase RNA), editing, protein translocation (SRP RNA), cellular transport (vRNA) and translation quality control (tmRNA). In addition, the function of many other cellular RNAs has not yet been determined. Future investigations of RNA function will allow us to better understand not only early evolutionary biological processes but also the central metabolism of modern cells.

中文翻译：

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现代RNA世界的最新发现。

假定现代生命的形成源于分子祖先，RNA分子既存储遗传信息又催化生化反应。在现代细胞中，这些功能分别通过DNA和蛋白质来实现，但是各种细胞RNA也参与了关键的细胞功能。在本文中，我们回顾了普遍存在的和/或执行基本生物学功能的细胞RNA，并讨论了此类RNA与益生元RNA世界的进化关系。细胞RNA的这种出乎意料的生物学多样性以及它们在细胞代谢中执行的关键功能证明了在古代RNA世界和现代生活中，RNA驱动的代谢非常复杂。细胞RNA参与翻译（tRNA和rRNA），但也参与核糖体成熟（snoRNA），更普遍地涉及RNA加工（snRNA和snoRNA），复制（端粒酶RNA），编辑，蛋白易位（SRP RNA），细胞转运（vRNA） ）和翻译质量控制（tmRNA）。另外，尚未确定许多其他细胞RNA的功能。RNA功能的未来研究将使我们不仅可以更好地理解早期的进化生物学过程，而且可以更好地理解现代细胞的中心代谢。