Abstract: Embodiments of the present disclosure pertain to methods of synthesizing a peptide by associating at least one isolated ribosomal RNA (rRNA) fragment with a plurality of transfer RNA fragments linked to amino acids (tRNA fragments). The at least one rRNA fragment includes at least one domain that associates with the tRNA fragments. The at least one rRNA fragment catalyzes the synthesis of the peptide through peptidyl transfer of the amino acids from the tRNA fragments independently of messenger RNA (mRNA) templates. Additionally, the peptidyl transfer occurs independently of proteins. Further embodiments of the present disclosure pertain to systems for synthesizing a peptide. Such systems include the rRNA fragments of the present disclosure and optionally a plurality of tRNA fragments.