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Nonenzymatic Oligomerization of 3',5'-Cyclic CMP Induced by Proton and UV Irradiation Hints at a Nonfastidious Origin of RNA

. 2017 Aug 04 ; 18 (15) : 1535-1543. [epub] 20170630

Language English Country Germany Media print-electronic

Document type Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Persistent link   https://www.medvik.cz/link/pmid28471098

We report that 3',5'-cyclic CMP undergoes nonenzymatic di- and trimerization at 20 °C under dry conditions upon proton or UV irradiation. The reaction involves stacking of the cyclic monomers and subsequent polymerization through serial transphosphorylations between the stacked monomers. Proton- and UV-induced oligomerization of 3',5'-cyclic CMP demonstrates that pyrimidines-similar to purines-might also have taken part in the spontaneous generation of RNA under plausible prebiotic conditions as well as in an extraterrestrial context. The observed polymerization of naturally occurring 3',5'-cyclic nucleotides supports the possibility that the extant genetic nucleic acids might have originated by way of a straight Occamian path, starting from simple reactions between plausibly preactivated monomers.

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