On the peptides related to nucleotide sequences of archeal tRNAs

It is shown that the nucleotide sequences of archeal tRNAs correspond to pe ptide sequences, some of which resemble very much the contemporary regulato ry peptides. In particular, the nucleotide sequence of archeal A0980 tRNA(A la) corresponds to a putative polypeptide, which is homologous to thymopoie tin, a peptide hormone produced in thymus and endowed with immunomodulatory activity. The 23 amino acid long synthetic peptide corresponding to A0980 interacts strongly with TAR RNA fragment of HIV mRNAs as well as binds spec ifically to tRNA(Phe), whereas tRNA(Leu) and tRNA(Met) are deprived of such ability.