title: The possible roles of water in the prebiotic chemical evolution of DNA.
abstract: There is no doubt that water is pivotal to life. Yet, as the emergence of life is still a big challenge in science, the detailed involvement of water in that process is not well recognized. Following the clues provided by recent single-molecule studies on DNA, we attempt to elucidate the possible roles of water in the prebiotic chemical evolution. Water has long been recognized as an important reactant in the Miller-Urey experiment and then as the only solvent of the primitive soup. Besides that, water also played a vital role in the prebiotic chemical evolution: water is the important criterion in the combinatorial library screening for self-assembling macromolecules. With this notion, the uniformity of biochemistry for all terrestrial life may be explained. A possible roadmap from the inorganic world to the origin of life is also discussed.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Advanced Technologies of Materials, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu 610031, China. cuishuxun@swjtu.edu.cn
authors.forename: Shuxun
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Cui
mesh_terms: D000222:Adaptation, Physiological; D004247:DNA / Q000737:chemistry*; D019418:Evolution, Chemical; D056692:Prebiotics; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D056692:Prebiotics; D014867:Water; D004247:DNA