ArticleProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America2024
Wet-dry cycles cause nucleic acid monomers to polymerize into long chains.
Article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers.
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Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed.
- Abiotic synthesis of RNase-resistant phosphodiester and pyrophosphate-linked polymers via thermodynamically controlled wet-dry cycling.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Conditions Enabling the Persistence of Cooperating Synthetase, Ligase, and Mutation-Inhibitor Catalytic Polymers.Journal of molecular evolution · 2026Article
- Redox chemistry of early Earth and the origin of life.Communications chemistry · 2026Review
- Experimental and Computational Simulation of the Prebiotic Peptide Bond Formation Driven by Wet-Dry Cycles and Gamma Ionizing Radiation: An Insight into Molecular Evolution.Journal of molecular evolution · 2026Article
- Antagonistic effects of amino acids support abiotic nano-environments in clay.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Theory for sequence selection via phase separation and oligomerization.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026Article
- Complex and Messy Prebiotic Chemistry: Obstacles and Opportunities for an RNA World.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Clay Minerals, Panacea or Parameter in RNA Oligomerization?Journal of molecular evolution · 2026Article
- Entropy-Driven Amino Acid-Based Coacervates with Enzyme-Free Metabolism and Prebiotic Robustness.Journal of the American Chemical Society · 2025Article
- The secret life of RNA and lipids.RNA biology · 2025Review
- Reproducible Ala-Gly oligomerization catalyzed by the natural Borate colemanite in prebiotic conditions.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- On the Origin of Life on Earth: The Nanozymes Hypothesis, and More.Research (Washington, D.C.) · 2025Review
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4 authors.
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Abstract
The key first step in the oligomerization of monomers is to find an initiator, which is usually done by thermolysis or photolysis. We present a markedly different approach that initiates acid-catalyzed polymerization at the surface of water films or water droplets, which is the reactive phase during a wet-dry cycle in freshwater hot springs associated with subaerial volcanic landmasses. We apply this method to the oligomerization of different nucleic acids, a topic relevant to how it might be possible to go from simple nucleic acid monomers to long-chain polymers, a key step in forming the building blocks of life. It has long been known that dehydration at elevated temperatures can drive the synthesis of ester and peptide bonds, but this reaction has typically been carried out by incubating dry monomers at elevated temperatures. We report that single or multiple cycles of wetting and drying link mononucleotides by forming phosphodiester bonds. Mass spectrometric analysis reveals uridine monophosphate oligomers up to 53 nucleotides, with an abundance of 35 and 43 nt in length. Long-chain oligomers are also observed for thymidine monophosphate, adenosine monophosphate, and deoxyadenosine monophosphate after exposure to a few wet-dry cycles. Nanopore sequencing confirms that long linear chains are formed. Enzyme digestion shows that the linkage is the phosphodiester bond, which is further confirmed by
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