Potentially prebiotic isocyanide activation chemistry drives RNA assembly.

ABSTRACT: Nonenzymatic assembly of RNA from chemically activated building blocks, such as phosphorimidazolides, would have been essential for the emergence of ribozymes on the early Earth. We previously showed that ribonucleoside monophosphates can be activated to phosphorimidazolides via a potentially prebiotic phospho-Passerini reaction involving 2-aminoimidazole, 2-methylbutyraldehyde, and methyl isocyanide, and that these activated nucleotides enable template-directed nonenzymatic RNA polymerization in the same reaction mixture. Here, we demonstrate that the same chemistry activates oligoribonucleotides and drives both nonenzymatic and ribozyme-catalyzed RNA ligation within the same reaction environment. By demonstrating a continuous path from prebiotic activation chemistry to RNA templat

SUBMITTER: Zhang SJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12352740 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature