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Geochemical influences on nonenzymatic oligomerization of prebiotically relevant cyclic nucleotides
The spontaneous emergence of long RNA molecules on the early Earth, a phenomenon central to the RNA World hypothesis, continues to remain an enigma in the field of origins of life. Few studies have looked at the nonenzymatic oligomerization of cyclic mononucleotides under neutral to alkaline conditi...
Autores principales: | , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press
2020
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7266160/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32205323 http://dx.doi.org/10.1261/rna.074302.119 |
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author | Dagar, Shikha Sarkar, Susovan Rajamani, Sudha |
author_facet | Dagar, Shikha Sarkar, Susovan Rajamani, Sudha |
author_sort | Dagar, Shikha |
collection | PubMed |
description | The spontaneous emergence of long RNA molecules on the early Earth, a phenomenon central to the RNA World hypothesis, continues to remain an enigma in the field of origins of life. Few studies have looked at the nonenzymatic oligomerization of cyclic mononucleotides under neutral to alkaline conditions, albeit in fully dehydrated state. In this study, we systematically investigated the oligomerization of cyclic nucleotides under prebiotically relevant conditions, wherein starting reactants were subjected to repeated dehydration–rehydration (DH–RH) regimes. DH–RH conditions, a recurring geological theme that was prevalent on prebiotic Earth, are driven by naturally occurring processes including diurnal cycles and tidal pool activity. These conditions have been shown to facilitate uphill oligomerization reactions. The polymerization of 2′–3′ and 3′–5′ cyclic nucleotides of a purine (adenosine) and a pyrimidine (cytidine) was investigated. Additionally, the effect of amphiphiles was also evaluated. Furthermore, to discern the effect of “realistic” conditions on this process, the reactions were also performed using a hot spring water sample from a candidate early Earth environment. Our study showed that the oligomerization of cyclic nucleotides under DH–RH conditions resulted in intact informational oligomers. Amphiphiles increased the stability of both the starting monomers and the resultant oligomers in selected reactions. In the hot spring reactions, both the oligomerization of nucleotides and the back hydrolysis of the resultant oligomers were pronounced. Altogether, this study demonstrates how nonenzymatic oligomerization of cyclic nucleotides, under both laboratory-simulated prebiotic conditions and in a candidate early Earth environment, could have resulted in RNA oligomers of a putative RNA World. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-7266160 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2020 |
publisher | Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-72661602021-06-01 Geochemical influences on nonenzymatic oligomerization of prebiotically relevant cyclic nucleotides Dagar, Shikha Sarkar, Susovan Rajamani, Sudha RNA Article The spontaneous emergence of long RNA molecules on the early Earth, a phenomenon central to the RNA World hypothesis, continues to remain an enigma in the field of origins of life. Few studies have looked at the nonenzymatic oligomerization of cyclic mononucleotides under neutral to alkaline conditions, albeit in fully dehydrated state. In this study, we systematically investigated the oligomerization of cyclic nucleotides under prebiotically relevant conditions, wherein starting reactants were subjected to repeated dehydration–rehydration (DH–RH) regimes. DH–RH conditions, a recurring geological theme that was prevalent on prebiotic Earth, are driven by naturally occurring processes including diurnal cycles and tidal pool activity. These conditions have been shown to facilitate uphill oligomerization reactions. The polymerization of 2′–3′ and 3′–5′ cyclic nucleotides of a purine (adenosine) and a pyrimidine (cytidine) was investigated. Additionally, the effect of amphiphiles was also evaluated. Furthermore, to discern the effect of “realistic” conditions on this process, the reactions were also performed using a hot spring water sample from a candidate early Earth environment. Our study showed that the oligomerization of cyclic nucleotides under DH–RH conditions resulted in intact informational oligomers. Amphiphiles increased the stability of both the starting monomers and the resultant oligomers in selected reactions. In the hot spring reactions, both the oligomerization of nucleotides and the back hydrolysis of the resultant oligomers were pronounced. Altogether, this study demonstrates how nonenzymatic oligomerization of cyclic nucleotides, under both laboratory-simulated prebiotic conditions and in a candidate early Earth environment, could have resulted in RNA oligomers of a putative RNA World. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press 2020-06 /pmc/articles/PMC7266160/ /pubmed/32205323 http://dx.doi.org/10.1261/rna.074302.119 Text en © 2020 Dagar et al.; Published by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press for the RNA Society http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ This article is distributed exclusively by the RNA Society for the first 12 months after the full-issue publication date (see http://rnajournal.cshlp.org/site/misc/terms.xhtml). After 12 months, it is available under a Creative Commons License (Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International), as described at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/. |
spellingShingle | Article Dagar, Shikha Sarkar, Susovan Rajamani, Sudha Geochemical influences on nonenzymatic oligomerization of prebiotically relevant cyclic nucleotides |
title | Geochemical influences on nonenzymatic oligomerization of prebiotically relevant cyclic nucleotides |
title_full | Geochemical influences on nonenzymatic oligomerization of prebiotically relevant cyclic nucleotides |
title_fullStr | Geochemical influences on nonenzymatic oligomerization of prebiotically relevant cyclic nucleotides |
title_full_unstemmed | Geochemical influences on nonenzymatic oligomerization of prebiotically relevant cyclic nucleotides |
title_short | Geochemical influences on nonenzymatic oligomerization of prebiotically relevant cyclic nucleotides |
title_sort | geochemical influences on nonenzymatic oligomerization of prebiotically relevant cyclic nucleotides |
topic | Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7266160/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32205323 http://dx.doi.org/10.1261/rna.074302.119 |
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