The Role of Templating in the Emergence of RNA from the Prebiotic Chemical Mixture
Biological RNA is a uniform polymer in three senses: it uses nucleotides of a single chirality; it uses only ribose sugars and four nucleobases rather than a mixture of other sugars and bases; and it uses only 3′-5′ bonds rather than a mixture of different bond types. We suppose that prebiotic chemi...
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doaj-4a7fedced15e4c6896c722026e0f5b682020-11-25T00:29:48ZengMDPI AGLife2075-17292017-10-01744110.3390/life7040041life7040041The Role of Templating in the Emergence of RNA from the Prebiotic Chemical MixtureAndrew S. Tupper0Kevin Shi1Paul G. Higgs2Origins Institute and Department of Biochemistry and Biomedical Science, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON L8S 4L8, CanadaOrigins Institute and Department of Physics and Astronomy, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON L8S 4K1, CanadaOrigins Institute and Department of Physics and Astronomy, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON L8S 4K1, CanadaBiological RNA is a uniform polymer in three senses: it uses nucleotides of a single chirality; it uses only ribose sugars and four nucleobases rather than a mixture of other sugars and bases; and it uses only 3′-5′ bonds rather than a mixture of different bond types. We suppose that prebiotic chemistry would generate a diverse mixture of potential monomers, and that random polymerization would generate non-uniform strands of mixed chirality, monomer composition, and bond type. We ask what factors lead to the emergence of RNA from this mixture. We show that template-directed replication can lead to the emergence of all the uniform properties of RNA by the same mechanism. We study a computational model in which nucleotides react via polymerization, hydrolysis, and template-directed ligation. Uniform strands act as templates for ligation of shorter oligomers of the same type, whereas mixed strands do not act as templates. The three uniform properties emerge naturally when the ligation rate is high. If there is an exact symmetry, as with the chase of chirality, the uniform property arises via a symmetry-breaking phase transition. If there is no exact symmetry, as with monomer selection and backbone regioselectivity, the uniform property emerges gradually as the rate of template-directed ligation is increased.https://www.mdpi.com/2075-1729/7/4/41RNA worldnon-enzymatic template-directed replicationchiralityregioselectivityprebiotic chemistrysymmetry breaking |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Andrew S. Tupper Kevin Shi Paul G. Higgs |
spellingShingle |
Andrew S. Tupper Kevin Shi Paul G. Higgs The Role of Templating in the Emergence of RNA from the Prebiotic Chemical Mixture Life RNA world non-enzymatic template-directed replication chirality regioselectivity prebiotic chemistry symmetry breaking |
author_facet |
Andrew S. Tupper Kevin Shi Paul G. Higgs |
author_sort |
Andrew S. Tupper |
title |
The Role of Templating in the Emergence of RNA from the Prebiotic Chemical Mixture |
title_short |
The Role of Templating in the Emergence of RNA from the Prebiotic Chemical Mixture |
title_full |
The Role of Templating in the Emergence of RNA from the Prebiotic Chemical Mixture |
title_fullStr |
The Role of Templating in the Emergence of RNA from the Prebiotic Chemical Mixture |
title_full_unstemmed |
The Role of Templating in the Emergence of RNA from the Prebiotic Chemical Mixture |
title_sort |
role of templating in the emergence of rna from the prebiotic chemical mixture |
publisher |
MDPI AG |
series |
Life |
issn |
2075-1729 |
publishDate |
2017-10-01 |
description |
Biological RNA is a uniform polymer in three senses: it uses nucleotides of a single chirality; it uses only ribose sugars and four nucleobases rather than a mixture of other sugars and bases; and it uses only 3′-5′ bonds rather than a mixture of different bond types. We suppose that prebiotic chemistry would generate a diverse mixture of potential monomers, and that random polymerization would generate non-uniform strands of mixed chirality, monomer composition, and bond type. We ask what factors lead to the emergence of RNA from this mixture. We show that template-directed replication can lead to the emergence of all the uniform properties of RNA by the same mechanism. We study a computational model in which nucleotides react via polymerization, hydrolysis, and template-directed ligation. Uniform strands act as templates for ligation of shorter oligomers of the same type, whereas mixed strands do not act as templates. The three uniform properties emerge naturally when the ligation rate is high. If there is an exact symmetry, as with the chase of chirality, the uniform property arises via a symmetry-breaking phase transition. If there is no exact symmetry, as with monomer selection and backbone regioselectivity, the uniform property emerges gradually as the rate of template-directed ligation is increased. |
topic |
RNA world non-enzymatic template-directed replication chirality regioselectivity prebiotic chemistry symmetry breaking |
url |
https://www.mdpi.com/2075-1729/7/4/41 |
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