Copying of Mixed-Sequence RNA Templates inside Model Protocells.

ABSTRACT: The chemical replication of RNA inside fatty acid vesicles is a plausible step in the emergence of cellular life. On the primitive Earth, simple protocells with the ability to import nucleotides and short oligomers from their environment could potentially have replicated and retained larger genomic RNA oligonucleotides within a spatially defined compartment. We have previously shown that short 5'-phosphoroimidazolide-activated "helper" RNA oligomers enable the nonenzymatic copying of mixed-sequence templates in solution, using 5'-phosphoroimidazolide-activated mononucleotides. Here, we report that citrate-chelated Mg²⁺, a catalyst of nonenzymatic primer extension, enhances fatty acid membrane permeability to such short RNA oligomers up to the size of tetramers, without disruptin

SUBMITTER: O'Flaherty DK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7547884 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature