Journal
COLD SPRING HARBOR PERSPECTIVES IN BIOLOGY
Volume 2, Issue 4, Pages -Publisher
COLD SPRING HARBOR LAB PRESS, PUBLICATIONS DEPT
DOI: 10.1101/cshperspect.a005439
Keywords
-
Categories
Funding
- MRC [MC_UP_A024_1009] Funding Source: UKRI
- Medical Research Council [MC_UP_A024_1009] Funding Source: Medline
Ask authors/readers for more resources
It has normally been assumed that ribonucleotides arose on the early Earth through a process in which ribose, the nucleobases, and phosphate became conjoined. However, under plausible prebiotic conditions, condensation of nucleobases with ribose to give beta-ribonucleosides is fraught with difficulties. The reaction with purine nucleobases is low-yielding and the reaction with the canonical pyrimidine nucleobases does not work at all. The reasons for these difficulties are considered and an alternative high-yielding synthesis of pyrimidine nucleotides is discussed. Fitting the new synthesis to a plausible geochemical scenario is a remaining challenge but the prospects appear good. Discovery of an improved method of purine synthesis, and an efficient means of stringing activated nucleotides together, will provide underpinning support to those theories that posit a central role for RNA in the origins of life.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available