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AFM Images of Viroid-Sized Rings That Self-Assemble from Mononucleotides through Wet–Dry Cycling: Implications for the Origin of Life

It is possible that early life relied on RNA polymers that served as ribozyme-like catalysts and for storing genetic information. The source of such polymers is uncertain, but previous investigations reported that wet–dry cycles simulating prebiotic hot springs provide sufficient energy to drive con...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Hassenkam, Tue, Damer, Bruce, Mednick, Gabriel, Deamer, David
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7760185/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33266191
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/life10120321
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author Hassenkam, Tue
Damer, Bruce
Mednick, Gabriel
Deamer, David
author_facet Hassenkam, Tue
Damer, Bruce
Mednick, Gabriel
Deamer, David
author_sort Hassenkam, Tue
collection PubMed
description It is possible that early life relied on RNA polymers that served as ribozyme-like catalysts and for storing genetic information. The source of such polymers is uncertain, but previous investigations reported that wet–dry cycles simulating prebiotic hot springs provide sufficient energy to drive condensation reactions of mononucleotides to form oligomers. The aim of the study reported here was to visualize the products by atomic force microscopy. In addition to globular oligomers, ring-like structures ranging from 10–200 nm in diameter, with an average around 30–40 nm, were abundant, particularly when nucleotides capable of base pairing were present. The thickness of the rings was consistent with single stranded products, but some had thicknesses indicating base pair stacking. Others had more complex structures in the form of short polymer attachments and pairing of rings. These observations suggest the possibility that base-pairing may promote polymerization during wet–dry cycling followed by solvation of the rings. We conclude that RNA-like rings and structures could have been synthesized non-enzymatically on the prebiotic Earth, with sizes sufficient to fold into ribozymes and genetic molecules required for life to begin.
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spelling pubmed-77601852020-12-26 AFM Images of Viroid-Sized Rings That Self-Assemble from Mononucleotides through Wet–Dry Cycling: Implications for the Origin of Life Hassenkam, Tue Damer, Bruce Mednick, Gabriel Deamer, David Life (Basel) Article It is possible that early life relied on RNA polymers that served as ribozyme-like catalysts and for storing genetic information. The source of such polymers is uncertain, but previous investigations reported that wet–dry cycles simulating prebiotic hot springs provide sufficient energy to drive condensation reactions of mononucleotides to form oligomers. The aim of the study reported here was to visualize the products by atomic force microscopy. In addition to globular oligomers, ring-like structures ranging from 10–200 nm in diameter, with an average around 30–40 nm, were abundant, particularly when nucleotides capable of base pairing were present. The thickness of the rings was consistent with single stranded products, but some had thicknesses indicating base pair stacking. Others had more complex structures in the form of short polymer attachments and pairing of rings. These observations suggest the possibility that base-pairing may promote polymerization during wet–dry cycling followed by solvation of the rings. We conclude that RNA-like rings and structures could have been synthesized non-enzymatically on the prebiotic Earth, with sizes sufficient to fold into ribozymes and genetic molecules required for life to begin. MDPI 2020-11-30 /pmc/articles/PMC7760185/ /pubmed/33266191 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/life10120321 Text en © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Hassenkam, Tue
Damer, Bruce
Mednick, Gabriel
Deamer, David
AFM Images of Viroid-Sized Rings That Self-Assemble from Mononucleotides through Wet–Dry Cycling: Implications for the Origin of Life
title AFM Images of Viroid-Sized Rings That Self-Assemble from Mononucleotides through Wet–Dry Cycling: Implications for the Origin of Life
title_full AFM Images of Viroid-Sized Rings That Self-Assemble from Mononucleotides through Wet–Dry Cycling: Implications for the Origin of Life
title_fullStr AFM Images of Viroid-Sized Rings That Self-Assemble from Mononucleotides through Wet–Dry Cycling: Implications for the Origin of Life
title_full_unstemmed AFM Images of Viroid-Sized Rings That Self-Assemble from Mononucleotides through Wet–Dry Cycling: Implications for the Origin of Life
title_short AFM Images of Viroid-Sized Rings That Self-Assemble from Mononucleotides through Wet–Dry Cycling: Implications for the Origin of Life
title_sort afm images of viroid-sized rings that self-assemble from mononucleotides through wet–dry cycling: implications for the origin of life
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7760185/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33266191
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/life10120321
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