Amino acids catalyse RNA formation under ambient alkaline conditions

Kód výsledku v IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F68081707%3A_____%2F25%3A00636642" target="_blank" >RIV/68081707:_____/25:00636642 - isvavai.cz</a>

Výsledek na webu

<a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-60359-3" target="_blank" >https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-60359-3</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-60359-3" target="_blank" >10.1038/s41467-025-60359-3</a>

Jazyk výsledku

angličtina

Název v původním jazyce

Amino acids catalyse RNA formation under ambient alkaline conditions

Popis výsledku v původním jazyce

RNA and proteins are the foundation of life and a natural starting point to explore its origins. However, the prebiotic relationship between the two is asymmetric. While RNA evolved to assemble proteins from amino acids, a significant mirror-symmetric effect of amino acids to trigger the synthesis of RNA was missing. We describe ambient alkaline conditions where amino acids, without additional chemical activators, promote RNA copolymerisation more than 100-fold, starting from prebiotically plausible ribonucleoside-2 ',3 '-cyclic phosphates. The observed effect is explained by acid-base catalysis, with optimal efficiency at pH values near the amine pKaH. The fold-change in oligomerisation yield is nucleobase-selective, resulting in increased compositional diversity necessary for subsequent molecular evolution and favouring the formation of natural 3 '-5 ' linkages. The elevated pH offers recycling of oligonucleotide sequences back to 2 ',3 '-cyclic phosphates, providing conditions for high-fidelity replication by templated ligation. The findings reveal a clear functional role of amino acids in the evolution of RNA earlier than previously assumed.

Název v anglickém jazyce

Amino acids catalyse RNA formation under ambient alkaline conditions

Popis výsledku anglicky

RNA and proteins are the foundation of life and a natural starting point to explore its origins. However, the prebiotic relationship between the two is asymmetric. While RNA evolved to assemble proteins from amino acids, a significant mirror-symmetric effect of amino acids to trigger the synthesis of RNA was missing. We describe ambient alkaline conditions where amino acids, without additional chemical activators, promote RNA copolymerisation more than 100-fold, starting from prebiotically plausible ribonucleoside-2 ',3 '-cyclic phosphates. The observed effect is explained by acid-base catalysis, with optimal efficiency at pH values near the amine pKaH. The fold-change in oligomerisation yield is nucleobase-selective, resulting in increased compositional diversity necessary for subsequent molecular evolution and favouring the formation of natural 3 '-5 ' linkages. The elevated pH offers recycling of oligonucleotide sequences back to 2 ',3 '-cyclic phosphates, providing conditions for high-fidelity replication by templated ligation. The findings reveal a clear functional role of amino acids in the evolution of RNA earlier than previously assumed.

Druh

J_imp - Článek v periodiku v databázi Web of Science

CEP obor

—

OECD FORD obor

10608 - Biochemistry and molecular biology

Projekt

<a href="/cs/project/GA22-25057S" target="_blank" >GA22-25057S: Studium neenzymatické polymerizace mírně aktivovaných nukleotidových prekurzorů</a><br>

Návaznosti

I - Institucionalni podpora na dlouhodoby koncepcni rozvoj vyzkumne organizace

Rok uplatnění

2025

Kód důvěrnosti údajů

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Název periodika

Nature Communications

ISSN

2041-1723

e-ISSN

2041-1723

Svazek periodika

16

Číslo periodika v rámci svazku

1

Stát vydavatele periodika

GB - Spojené království Velké Británie a Severního Irska

Počet stran výsledku

9

Strana od-do

5193

Kód UT WoS článku

001503075400015

EID výsledku v databázi Scopus

2-s2.0-105007232051