title: Oligomerization of activated D- and L-guanosine mononucleotides on templates containing D- and L-deoxycytidylate residues.
abstract: The oligomerization of activated D- and L- and racemic guanosine-5'-phosphoro-2-methylimidazole on short templates containing D- and L-deoxycytidylate has been studied. Results obtained with D-oligo(dC)s as templates are similar to those previously reported for experiments with a poly(C) template. When one L-dC or two consecutive L-dCs are introduced into a D-template, regiospecific synthesis of 3'-5' oligo(G)s proceeds to the end of the template, but three consecutive L-dCs block synthesis. Alternating D-,L-oligomers do not facilitate oligomerization of the D-, L-, and racemic 2-guanosine-5'-phosphoro-2-methylimidazole. We suggest that once a "predominately D-metabolism" existed, occasional L-residues in a template would not have led to the termination of self-replication.
authors.affiliation: The Salk Institute for Biological Studies, P.O. Box 85800, San Diego, CA 92186, USA.
authors.forename: I A
authors.initials: IA
authors.lastname: Kozlov
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pitsch
authors.forename: L E
authors.initials: LE
authors.lastname: Orgel
mesh_terms: D019281:Dimerization; D006151:Guanosine / Q000737:chemistry*; D009841:Oligonucleotides / Q000737:chemistry*; D013698:Templates, Genetic
chemical_list: D009841:Oligonucleotides; D006151:Guanosine