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Sustainability and Chaos in the Abiotic Polymerization of 3′,5′ Cyclic Guanosine Monophosphate: The Role of Aggregation
Author(s) -
Costanzo Giovanna,
Šponer Judit E.,
Šponer Jiří,
Cirigliano Angela,
Benedetti Piero,
Giliberti Valeria,
Polito Raffaella,
Di Mauro Ernesto
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
chemsystemschem
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2570-4206
DOI - 10.1002/syst.202000011
Subject(s) - guanosine , polymerization , chemistry , rna , yield (engineering) , prebiotic , abiotic component , biochemistry , biology , organic chemistry , materials science , polymer , ecology , metallurgy , gene
Abstract Polymerization of 3′,5′ cyclic guanosine monophosphate (3′,5′ cGMP) was previously reported to afford short RNA sequences from a plausible mildly activated prebiotic precursor in a non‐enzymatic and template‐free manner. In the current paper we analyze the reaction with PAGE as well as by infrared micro‐ and nanospectroscopy on time scales not considered before. We provide evidence that a preliminary oligomerization step in dry state allows for a continued synthesis of RNA oligomers even in the presence of subsequently added water. On a longer time scale, the oligomerization yield oscillates in an apparently chaotic fashion hinting at the importance of some non‐reversible phase‐separation processes on the experimentally observed outcome of the polymerization/degradation chemistries. The long‐lasting (hundreds of hours) intrinsic sustainability and resilience of the process gives a robust prebiotic potential to this unique oligomerization reaction, which could lead to the very first oligonucleotide sequences on the primordial Earth.