ArticleLife (Basel, Switzerland)2020
AFM Images of Viroid-Sized Rings That Self-Assemble from Mononucleotides through Wet-Dry Cycling: Implications for the Origin of Life.
Article in Life (Basel, Switzerland), 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers.
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Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed.
- Exonuclease Ribozyme Encoded in a Circular Genome: On the Initiation of the RNA World.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Roles of dimeric intermediates in RNA-catalyzed rolling circle synthesis.Nucleic acids research · 2025Article
- Hypothesis: bacteria live on the edge of phase transitions with a cell cycle regulated by a water-clock.Theory in biosciences = Theorie in den Biowissenschaften · 2024Article
- The RNA-DNA world and the emergence of DNA-encoded heritable traits.RNA biology · 2024Article
- Crystallization as a selection force at the polymerization of nucleotides in a prebiotic context.iScience · 2023Article
- The Formation of RNA Pre-Polymers in the Presence of Different Prebiotic Mineral Surfaces Studied by Molecular Dynamics Simulations.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- DNA and the origins of life in micaceous clay.Biophysical journal · 2022Article
- The Ring World: Eversion of Small Double-Stranded Polynucleotide Circlets at the Origin of DNA Double Helix, RNA Polymerization, Triplet Code, Twenty Amino Acids, and Strand Asymmetry.International journal of molecular sciences · 2022Article
- Rolling Circles as a Means of Encoding Genes in the RNA World.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- The Effect of Environment on the Evolution and Proliferation of Protocells of Increasing Complexity.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- Visualizing RNA polymers produced by hot wet-dry cycling.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- Potassium at the Origins of Life: Did Biology Emerge from Biotite in Micaceous Clay?Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- Rolling circle RNA synthesis catalyzed by RNA.eLife · 2022Article
- Evolution towards increasing complexity through functional diversification in a protocell model of the RNA world.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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4 authors.
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Abstract
It is possible that early life relied on RNA polymers that served as ribozyme-like catalysts and for storing genetic information. The source of such polymers is uncertain, but previous investigations reported that wet-dry cycles simulating prebiotic hot springs provide sufficient energy to drive condensation reactions of mononucleotides to form oligomers. The aim of the study reported here was to visualize the products by atomic force microscopy. In addition to globular oligomers, ring-like structures ranging from 10-200 nm in diameter, with an average around 30-40 nm, were abundant, particularly when nucleotides capable of base pairing were present. The thickness of the rings was consistent with single stranded products, but some had thicknesses indicating base pair stacking. Others had more complex structures in the form of short polymer attachments and pairing of rings. These observations suggest the possibility that base-pairing may promote polymerization during wet-dry cycling followed by solvation of the rings. We conclude that RNA-like rings and structures could have been synthesized non-enzymatically on the prebiotic Earth, with sizes sufficient to fold into ribozymes and genetic molecules required for life to begin.
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