ArticleBMC evolutionary biology2007
Formamide as the main building block in the origin of nucleic acids.
Article in BMC evolutionary biology, 2007. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 19 papers.
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Who cites it
19 citing papers in PubMed.
- Origin of the RNA World in Cold Hadean Geothermal Fields Enriched in Zinc and Potassium: Abiogenesis as a Positive Fallout from the Moon-Forming Impact?Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Prebiotic Syntheses of Organophosphorus Compounds from Reduced Source of Phosphorus in Non-Aqueous Solvents.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Direct Synthesis of Formamide from COJournal of the American Chemical Society · 2023Article
- Review
- The role of borosilicate glass in Miller-Urey experiment.Scientific reports · 2021Article
- The Semi-Enzymatic Origin of Metabolic Pathways: Inferring a Very Early Stage of the Evolution of Life.Journal of molecular evolution · 2021Article
- Prebiotic Soup Components Trapped in Montmorillonite Nanoclay Form New Molecules: Car-Parrinello Ab Initio Simulations.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2019Article
- Role of Mineral Surfaces in Prebiotic Chemical Evolution. In Silico Quantum Mechanical Studies.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2019Review
- Article
- Silicate-Promoted Phosphorylation of Glycerol in Non-Aqueous Solvents: A Prebiotically Plausible Route to Organophosphates.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2017Article
- Has Inositol Played Any Role in the Origin of Life?Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2017Article
- Formation of nucleobases in a Miller-Urey reducing atmosphere.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2017Article
- Prebiotic chemical evolution in the astrophysical context.Origins of life and evolution of the biosphere : the journal of the International Society for the Study of the Origin of Life · 2015Article
- Theoretical study of formamide decomposition pathways over (6,0) silicon-carbide nanotube.Journal of molecular modeling · 2015Article
- Observations of interstellar formamide: availability of a prebiotic precursor in the galactic habitable zone.Astrobiology · 2013Article
- Prebiotic chemistry: geochemical context and reaction screening.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2013Article
- Origin of first cells at terrestrial, anoxic geothermal fields.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2012Article
- The role of the formamide/zirconia system in the synthesis of nucleobases and biogenic carboxylic acid derivatives.Journal of molecular evolution · 2010Article
- The origin of life: chemical evolution of a metabolic system in a mineral honeycomb?Journal of molecular evolution · 2009Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The simplest molecules grouping the four most common elements of the universe H,C,O and N (with the exception of the biologically inert He) are isocyanate HNCO and formamide H2NCOH. Reasons for the availability of formamide on prebiotic Earth are presented. We review evidence showing that formamide in the presence of largely available catalysts and by moderate heating yields the complete set of nucleic bases necessary for the formation of nucleic acids. Formamide also favours the formation of acyclonucleosides and the phosphorylation and trans-phosphorylation of nucleosides, thus providing a plausible chemical frame for the passage from a simple one-carbon compound to nucleic polymers. Physico-chemical conditions exist in which formamide favours the stability of the phosphoester bonds in nucleic polymers relative to that of the same bonds in monomers. Starting from a formamide-laden environment subject only to the laws of chemistry, a hypothesis is outlined sketching the passage towards an aqueous world in which Darwinian rules apply.
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