A homogeneous chemical frame is described allowing one-pot syntheses from the one-carbon compound formamide NH(2)CHO to the whole set of nucleic bases needed as precursors of nucleic acids, as we know them. Formamide also catalyzes the formation of acyclonucleosides and the phosphorylation of nucleosides to nucleotides. The conditions are described in which the survival of these prebiotically plausible nucleotides is favored. The scenario is simple: the polymeric forms are thermodynamically favored over the monomeric ones. The consequences of this very property are relevant: the formation and the accumulation of (pre)genetic information.
Spontaneous Generation Revisited at the Molecular Level / Ciciriello, Fabiana; Giovanna Maria, Costanzo; Pino, Samanta; DI MAURO, Ernesto. - STAMPA. - (2009), pp. 3-22. ((Intervento presentato al convegno 12th Evolutionary Biology Meeting tenutosi a Marseilles, FRANCE nel SEP 24-26, 2008. [10.1007/978-3-642-00952-5_1].
Spontaneous Generation Revisited at the Molecular Level
CICIRIELLO, FABIANA;PINO, SAMANTA;DI MAURO, Ernesto
2009
Abstract
A homogeneous chemical frame is described allowing one-pot syntheses from the one-carbon compound formamide NH(2)CHO to the whole set of nucleic bases needed as precursors of nucleic acids, as we know them. Formamide also catalyzes the formation of acyclonucleosides and the phosphorylation of nucleosides to nucleotides. The conditions are described in which the survival of these prebiotically plausible nucleotides is favored. The scenario is simple: the polymeric forms are thermodynamically favored over the monomeric ones. The consequences of this very property are relevant: the formation and the accumulation of (pre)genetic information.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
