It is widely known that our DNA maps out instructions for making proteins, which are essential components of the body's cells, but new research suggests the building blocks of these proteins can be built without a "blueprint."

The new findings suggest these mechanisms, dubbed amino acids, can be assembled independently of DNA and an with intermediate template called messenger RNA (mRNA), the University of Utah reported. 

"This surprising discovery reflects how incomplete our understanding of biology is," said first author Peter Shen, Ph.D., a postdoctoral fellow in biochemistry at the University of Utah. "Nature is capable of more than we realize."

Ribosomes help link together amino acid in an order specified by the genetic code, but if something goes wrong these ribosomes can be disassembled by a "quality control crew." A member of this control team is a protein called Rqc2, which prompts the ribosomes to add just two amino acids (alanine and threonine) in a sequence.

"In this case, we have a protein playing a role similar to that filled by mRNA," said Adam Frost, assistant professor at University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and adjunct professor of biochemistry at the University of Utah. "I love this story because it blurs the lines of what we thought proteins could do."

The purpose of the sequence alanines and threonines could be part of a test to see if the ribosome is working properly. The findings sugges faults in these processes could be linked to neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's, Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), or Huntington's.

"There are many interesting implications of this work and none of them would have been possible if we didn't follow our curiosity," said Onn Brandman,., at Stanford University "The primary driver of discovery has been exploring what you see, and that's what we did. There will never be a substitute for that."

The findings were published in a recent edition of the journal Science.