ArticleNature chemistry2015
Common origins of RNA, protein and lipid precursors in a cyanosulfidic protometabolism.
Article in Nature chemistry, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 368 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
368 citing papers in PubMed.
- Continuous UV irradiation played an inconclusive role in selecting the canonical genetic alphabet.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026Article
- Functional abiotic metabolite assembly hypothesis for the early events in the origin of life.Nature communications · 2026Review
- Prebiotically Plausible Synthesis of N-Cyanoimidazole for Phosphate Activation and Templated RNA Ligation.Journal of the American Chemical Society · 2026Article
- From searching for extraterrestrial biosignatures to exploring the origins of life: A prebiotic chemistry perspective.Fundamental research · 2026Review
- Article
- Proto-Biosignatures and Planetary Geochemical Metabolism: A Thermodynamic Screening Model of Prebiotic Geochemical Organization.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Intermediate stages in the origin of metabolism at a phosphorylating hydrothermal vent.Science advances · 2026Article
- Protein thiol alterations drive pathologic liquid-liquid phase separation in the aging brain.Nature structural & molecular biology · 2026Article
- Resurrecting tRNAs of the Last Universal Common Ancestor (Commonote) Toward Rebuilding the Ancient Translation System.Journal of molecular evolution · 2026Article
- From Mineral Surfaces to Peptides: Hydroxyapatite-Based Platforms for Surface-Mediated Prebiotic Synthesis.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
- The chemistry of habitable oceans in the Solar system.Nature communications · 2026Review
- Abiotic sources of fixed nitrogen sustained early ecosystems for several hundred million years after the origin of life.Science advances · 2026Article
- Plant-Derived Peptide-Polymer Therapeutics for Cutaneous Infections and Inflammation: Mechanistic Basis, Delivery Design and Translational Considerations.Pharmaceutics · 2026Review
- Shadow of a Shadow: Ferrocyanide and Nitroprusside as Sunscreens for Photosensitive Prebiotic Molecules.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Repetitive temperature cycles with DMSO sustain RNA replicating liposome compartments via fusion mediated content exchange.Communications biology · 2026Article
- The RNA-First Fallacy: Conflating Evolutionary Ancestry with Prebiotic Primacy.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Strand Structure Controls Photoinduced Self-Repair of RNA Uracil Dimers.The journal of physical chemistry letters · 2026Article
- Growth of fatty acid vesicles coupled with amino acid sequences of peptides toward evolvable protocells.Communications chemistry · 2026Article
- Temperature-Enhanced Coercive Field by Chiral Molecules.The journal of physical chemistry letters · 2026Article
- Dipeptide photodegradation under copper ion influence suggests protective second-shell design in copper-binding proteins.BMC chemistry · 2026Article
308 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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5 authors.
Funding
Abstract
A minimal cell can be thought of as comprising informational, compartment-forming and metabolic subsystems. To imagine the abiotic assembly of such an overall system, however, places great demands on hypothetical prebiotic chemistry. The perceived differences and incompatibilities between these subsystems have led to the widely held assumption that one or other subsystem must have preceded the others. Here we experimentally investigate the validity of this assumption by examining the assembly of various biomolecular building blocks from prebiotically plausible intermediates and one-carbon feedstock molecules. We show that precursors of ribonucleotides, amino acids and lipids can all be derived by the reductive homologation of hydrogen cyanide and some of its derivatives, and thus that all the cellular subsystems could have arisen simultaneously through common chemistry. The key reaction steps are driven by ultraviolet light, use hydrogen sulfide as the reductant and can be accelerated by Cu(I)-Cu(II) photoredox cycling.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.