Sequence Complementarity-Driven Nonenzymatic Ligation of RNA

We report two reactions of RNA G:C sequences occurring nonenzymatically in water in the absence of any added cofactor or metal ion: (a) sequence complementarity-driven terminal ligation and (b) complemental), sequence adaptor-driven multiple tandemization. The two abiotic reactions increase the chemical complexity of the resulting pool of RNA molecules and change the Shannon information of the initial population of sequences.