Formation of Abasic Oligomers in Nonenzymatic Polymerization of Canonical Nucleotides.

ABSTRACT: Polymerization of nucleotides under prebiotically plausible conditions has been a focus of several origins of life studies. Non-activated nucleotides have been shown to undergo polymerization under geothermal conditions when subjected to dry-wet cycles. They do so by a mechanism similar to acid-catalyzed ester-bond formation. However, one study showed that the low pH of these reactions resulted in predominantly depurination, thereby resulting in the formation of abasic sites in the oligomers. In this study, we aimed to systematically characterize the nature of the oligomers that resulted in reactions that involved one or more of the canonical ribonucleotides. All the reactions analyzed showed the presence of abasic oligomers, with purine nucleotides being affected the most due to deglycosy

SUBMITTER: Mungi CV 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6789551 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature