Crystallization as a selection force at the polymerization of nucleotides in a prebiotic context

Judit E Šponer; Jiří Šponer; Jakub Výravský; Roman Matyášek; Aleš Kovařík; Wojciech Dudziak; Katarzyna Ślepokura

doi:10.1016/j.isci.2023.107600

Crystallization as a selection force at the polymerization of nucleotides in a prebiotic context

iScience. 2023 Aug 9;26(9):107600. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2023.107600. eCollection 2023 Sep 15.

Authors

Judit E Šponer¹, Jiří Šponer¹, Jakub Výravský^{2

3}, Roman Matyášek¹, Aleš Kovařík¹, Wojciech Dudziak⁴, Katarzyna Ślepokura⁴

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Biophysics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Královopolská 135, 61200 Brno, Czech Republic.
² TESCAN Brno, s.r.o, Libušina třída 1, 62300 Brno, Czech Republic.
³ Department of Geological Sciences, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Kotlářská 2, 61137 Brno, Czech Republic.
⁴ University of Wrocław, Faculty of Chemistry, 14 F. Joliot-Curie, 50-383 Wrocław, Poland.

Abstract

Accumulation and selection of nucleotides is one of the most challenging problems surrounding the origin of the first RNA molecules on our planet. In the current work we propose that guanosine 3',5' cyclic monophosphate could selectively crystallize upon evaporation of an acidic prebiotic pool containing various other nucleotides. The conditions of the evaporative crystallization are fully compatible with the subsequent acid catalyzed polymerization of this cyclic nucleotide reported in earlier studies and may be relevant in a broad range of possible prebiotic environments. Albeit cytidine 3',5' cyclic monophosphate has the ability to selectively accumulate under the same conditions, its crystal structure is not likely to support polymer formation.

Keywords: Biochemistry; Biological sciences; Natural sciences.