Freeze-thaw cycles enable a prebiotically plausible and continuous pathway from nucleotide activation to nonenzymatic RNA copying.

ABSTRACT: Nonenzymatic template-directed RNA copying using chemically activated nucleotides is thought to have played a key role in the emergence of genetic information on the early Earth. A longstanding question concerns the number and nature of different environments that might have been necessary to enable all of the steps from nucleotide synthesis to RNA copying. Here we explore three sequential steps from this overall pathway: nucleotide activation, synthesis of imidazolium-bridged dinucleotides, and template-directed RNA copying. We find that all three steps can take place in one reaction mixture undergoing multiple freeze-thaw cycles. Recent experiments have demonstrated a potentially prebiotic methyl isocyanide-based nucleotide activation chemistry. However, the original version of this appr

SUBMITTER: Zhang SJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9169909 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature