Article: Experimentally investigating the origin of DNA/RNA on early Earth

There are varied views about how the molecules of life may have appeared on early Earth. Nowhere is this divergence more acute than in the origins of DNA/RNA and has become a matter of constant deliberations.

Citing Articles

Prebiotic chemistry: a review of nucleoside phosphorylation and polymerization.

Guo X, Fu S, Ying J, Zhao Y Open Biol. 2023; 13(1):220234.

PMID: 36629018 PMC: 9832566. DOI: 10.1098/rsob.220234.

A Computational Quantum-Based Perspective on the Molecular Origins of Life's Building Blocks.

Amante G, Sponer J, Sponer J, Saija F, Cassone G Entropy (Basel). 2022; 24(8).

PMID: 35892991 PMC: 9394336. DOI: 10.3390/e24081012.

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

Hassenkam T, Damer B, Mednick G, Deamer D Life (Basel). 2020; 10(12).

PMID: 33266191 PMC: 7760185. DOI: 10.3390/life10120321.

A poly(thymine)-melamine duplex for the assembly of DNA nanomaterials.

Li Q, Zhao J, Liu L, Jonchhe S, Rizzuto F, Mandal S Nat Mater. 2020; 19(9):1012-1018.

PMID: 32661383 PMC: 7732259. DOI: 10.1038/s41563-020-0728-2.

Prebiotic competition and evolution in self-replicating polynucleotides can explain the properties of DNA/RNA in modern living systems.

Subramanian H, Brown J, Gatenby R BMC Evol Biol. 2020; 20(1):75.

PMID: 32590933 PMC: 7318430. DOI: 10.1186/s12862-020-01641-4.

References

1.

Krissansen-Totton J, Arney G, Catling D . Constraining the climate and ocean pH of the early Earth with a geological carbon cycle model. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2018; 115(16):4105-4110. PMC: 5910859. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1721296115. View

2.

Eschenmoser A . Etiology of potentially primordial biomolecular structures: from vitamin B12 to the nucleic acids and an inquiry into the chemistry of life's origin: a retrospective. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2011; 50(52):12412-72. DOI: 10.1002/anie.201103672. View

3.

Powner M, Gerland B, Sutherland J . Synthesis of activated pyrimidine ribonucleotides in prebiotically plausible conditions. Nature. 2009; 459(7244):239-42. DOI: 10.1038/nature08013. View

4.

Orgel L . Prebiotic chemistry and the origin of the RNA world. Crit Rev Biochem Mol Biol. 2004; 39(2):99-123. DOI: 10.1080/10409230490460765. View

5.

Becker S, Thoma I, Deutsch A, Gehrke T, Mayer P, Zipse H . A high-yielding, strictly regioselective prebiotic purine nucleoside formation pathway. Science. 2016; 352(6287):833-6. DOI: 10.1126/science.aad2808. View

6.

Kim H, Benner S . Prebiotic stereoselective synthesis of purine and noncanonical pyrimidine nucleotide from nucleobases and phosphorylated carbohydrates. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2017; 114(43):11315-11320. PMC: 5664531. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1710778114. View

7.

Karki M, Gibard C, Bhowmik S, Krishnamurthy R . Nitrogenous Derivatives of Phosphorus and the Origins of Life: Plausible Prebiotic Phosphorylating Agents in Water. Life (Basel). 2017; 7(3). PMC: 5617957. DOI: 10.3390/life7030032. View

8.

Gibard C, Bhowmik S, Karki M, Kim E, Krishnamurthy R . Phosphorylation, oligomerization and self-assembly in water under potential prebiotic conditions. Nat Chem. 2018; 10(2):212-217. PMC: 6295206. DOI: 10.1038/nchem.2878. View

9.

Hud N, Cafferty B, Krishnamurthy R, Williams L . The origin of RNA and "my grandfather's axe". Chem Biol. 2013; 20(4):466-74. DOI: 10.1016/j.chembiol.2013.03.012. View

10.

Powner M, Sutherland J . Prebiotic chemistry: a new modus operandi. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2011; 366(1580):2870-7. PMC: 3158916. DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2011.0134. View

11.

Jortner J . Conditions for the emergence of life on the early Earth: summary and reflections. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2006; 361(1474):1877-91. PMC: 1664691. DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2006.1909. View

Experimentally Investigating the Origin of DNA/RNA on Early Earth