ArticleBMC evolutionary biology2007
Montmorillonite protection of an UV-irradiated hairpin ribozyme: evolution of the RNA world in a mineral environment.
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 27 papers.
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27 citing papers in PubMed, 85 citations in OpenAlex.
- On-Demand Photoprotection by UV-Transparent Small Molecules via Aggregation-Induced Absorption: The Origin and Modern Application.ACS central science · 2026Article
- The role of minerals in prebiotic evolution: Implications for identifying worlds with the potential for life's origin.Fundamental research · 2026Review
- Comparative inhibitory effects of zeolite, sepiolite, and kaolinite on A549 lung cancer cells.PloS one · 2026Article
- The dynamics of prebiotic take-off: the transfer of functional RNA communities from mineral surfaces to vesicles.Communications biology · 2025Article
- 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
- Effect of montmorillonite K10 clay on RNA structure and function.Biophysical journal · 2024Article
- Archean phosphorus recycling facilitated by ultraviolet radiation.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2023Article
- The Formation of RNA Pre-Polymers in the Presence of Different Prebiotic Mineral Surfaces Studied by Molecular Dynamics Simulations.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- Life on Minerals: Binding Behaviors of Oligonucleotides on Zirconium Silicate and Its Inhibitory Activity for the Self-Cleavage of Hammerhead Ribozyme.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- Primitive Compartmentalization for the Sustainable Replication of Genetic Molecules.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Review
- Greenalite Nanoparticles in Alkaline Vent Plumes as Templates for the Origin of Life.Astrobiology · 2021Article
- Nucleic Acid Catalysis under Potential Prebiotic Conditions.Chemistry, an Asian journal · 2020Review
- Effect of UV Radiation on Fluorescent RNA Aptamers' Functional and Templating Ability.Chembiochem : a European journal of chemical biology · 2019Article
- Mineral surfaces select for longer RNA molecules.Chemical communications (Cambridge, England) · 2019Article
- Catalytic/Protective Properties of Martian Minerals and Implications for Possible Origin of Life on Mars.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2018Review
- Oligomerization of a Bimolecular Ribozyme Modestly Rescues its Structural Defects that Disturb Interdomain Assembly to Form the Catalytic Site.Journal of molecular evolution · 2018Article
- Physical Principles and Extant Biology Reveal Roles for RNA-Containing Membraneless Compartments in Origins of Life Chemistry.Biochemistry · 2018Article
- Environmental Adaptation from the Origin of Life to the Last Universal Common Ancestor.Origins of life and evolution of the biosphere : the journal of the International Society for the Study of the Origin of Life · 2018Article
- Mineral surface chemistry control for origin of prebiotic peptides.Nature communications · 2017Article
- Adsorption of RNA on mineral surfaces and mineral precipitates.Beilstein journal of organic chemistry · 2017Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe hypothesis of an RNA-based origin of life, known as the "RNA world", is strongly affected by the hostile environmental conditions probably present in the early Earth. In particular, strong UV and X-ray radiations could have been a major obstacle to the formation and evolution of the first biomolecules. In 1951, J. D. Bernal first proposed that clay minerals could have served as the sites of accumulation and protection from degradation of the first biopolymers, providing the right physical setting for the evolution of more complex systems. Numerous subsequent experimental studies have reinforced this hypothesis.
resultsThe ability of the possibly widespread prebiotic, clay mineral montmorillonite to protect the catalytic RNA molecule ADHR1 (Adenine Dependent Hairpin Ribozyme 1) from UV-induced damages was experimentally checked. In particular, the self-cleavage reaction of the ribozyme was evaluated after UV-irradiation of the molecule in the absence or presence of clay particles. Results obtained showed a three-fold retention of the self-cleavage activity of the montmorillonite-protected molecule, with respect to the same reaction performed by the ribozyme irradiated in the absence of the clay.
conclusionThese results provide a suggestion with which RNA, or RNA-like molecules, could have overcame the problem of protection from UV irradiation in the RNA world era, and suggest that a clay-rich environment could have favoured not only the formation of first genetic molecules, but also their evolution towards increasingly complex molecular organization.
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