Characterization of RNA-Like Oligomers from Lipid-Assisted Nonenzymatic Synthesis: Implications for Origin of Informational Molecules on Early Earth
Prebiotic polymerization had to be a nonenzymatic, chemically driven process. These processes would have been particularly favored in scenarios which push reaction regimes far from equilibrium. Dehydration-rehydration (DH-RH) cycles are one such regime thought to have been prevalent on prebiotic Ear...
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| Format: | Article |
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MDPI AG
2015-01-01
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| Series: | Life |
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| Online Access: | http://www.mdpi.com/2075-1729/5/1/65 |
| _version_ | 1818037033220702208 |
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| author | Chaitanya V. Mungi Sudha Rajamani |
| author_facet | Chaitanya V. Mungi Sudha Rajamani |
| author_sort | Chaitanya V. Mungi |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Prebiotic polymerization had to be a nonenzymatic, chemically driven process. These processes would have been particularly favored in scenarios which push reaction regimes far from equilibrium. Dehydration-rehydration (DH-RH) cycles are one such regime thought to have been prevalent on prebiotic Earth in niches like volcanic geothermal pools. The present study defines the optimum DH-RH reaction conditions for lipid-assisted polymerization of nucleotides. The resultant products were characterized to understand their chemical makeup. Primarily, our study demonstrates that the resultant RNA-like oligomers have abasic sites, which means these oligomers lack information-carrying capability because of losing most of their bases during the reaction process. This results from low pH and high temperature conditions, which, importantly, also allows the formation of sugar-phosphate oligomers when ribose 5'-monophosphates are used as the starting monomers instead. Formation of such oligomers would have permitted sampling of a large variety of bases on a preformed polymer backbone, resulting in “prebiotic phosphodiester polymers” prior to the emergence of modern RNA-like molecules. This suggests that primitive genetic polymers could have utilized bases that conferred greater N-glycosyl bond stability, a feature crucial for information propagation in low pH and high temperature regimes of early Earth. |
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| id | doaj.art-8d00bce43460449b830518eb2c4f2e4c |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2075-1729 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-10T07:20:24Z |
| publishDate | 2015-01-01 |
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| spelling | doaj.art-8d00bce43460449b830518eb2c4f2e4c2022-12-22T01:57:50ZengMDPI AGLife2075-17292015-01-0151658410.3390/life5010065life5010065Characterization of RNA-Like Oligomers from Lipid-Assisted Nonenzymatic Synthesis: Implications for Origin of Informational Molecules on Early EarthChaitanya V. Mungi0Sudha Rajamani1Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Pune, Maharashtra 411008, IndiaIndian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Pune, Maharashtra 411008, IndiaPrebiotic polymerization had to be a nonenzymatic, chemically driven process. These processes would have been particularly favored in scenarios which push reaction regimes far from equilibrium. Dehydration-rehydration (DH-RH) cycles are one such regime thought to have been prevalent on prebiotic Earth in niches like volcanic geothermal pools. The present study defines the optimum DH-RH reaction conditions for lipid-assisted polymerization of nucleotides. The resultant products were characterized to understand their chemical makeup. Primarily, our study demonstrates that the resultant RNA-like oligomers have abasic sites, which means these oligomers lack information-carrying capability because of losing most of their bases during the reaction process. This results from low pH and high temperature conditions, which, importantly, also allows the formation of sugar-phosphate oligomers when ribose 5'-monophosphates are used as the starting monomers instead. Formation of such oligomers would have permitted sampling of a large variety of bases on a preformed polymer backbone, resulting in “prebiotic phosphodiester polymers” prior to the emergence of modern RNA-like molecules. This suggests that primitive genetic polymers could have utilized bases that conferred greater N-glycosyl bond stability, a feature crucial for information propagation in low pH and high temperature regimes of early Earth.http://www.mdpi.com/2075-1729/5/1/65dehydration-rehydration cyclesprebiotic chemistrylipid-assisted polymerizationabasic sitessugar-phosphate backbones |
| spellingShingle | Chaitanya V. Mungi Sudha Rajamani Characterization of RNA-Like Oligomers from Lipid-Assisted Nonenzymatic Synthesis: Implications for Origin of Informational Molecules on Early Earth Life dehydration-rehydration cycles prebiotic chemistry lipid-assisted polymerization abasic sites sugar-phosphate backbones |
| title | Characterization of RNA-Like Oligomers from Lipid-Assisted Nonenzymatic Synthesis: Implications for Origin of Informational Molecules on Early Earth |
| title_full | Characterization of RNA-Like Oligomers from Lipid-Assisted Nonenzymatic Synthesis: Implications for Origin of Informational Molecules on Early Earth |
| title_fullStr | Characterization of RNA-Like Oligomers from Lipid-Assisted Nonenzymatic Synthesis: Implications for Origin of Informational Molecules on Early Earth |
| title_full_unstemmed | Characterization of RNA-Like Oligomers from Lipid-Assisted Nonenzymatic Synthesis: Implications for Origin of Informational Molecules on Early Earth |
| title_short | Characterization of RNA-Like Oligomers from Lipid-Assisted Nonenzymatic Synthesis: Implications for Origin of Informational Molecules on Early Earth |
| title_sort | characterization of rna like oligomers from lipid assisted nonenzymatic synthesis implications for origin of informational molecules on early earth |
| topic | dehydration-rehydration cycles prebiotic chemistry lipid-assisted polymerization abasic sites sugar-phosphate backbones |
| url | http://www.mdpi.com/2075-1729/5/1/65 |
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