title: Adenosine monophosphate forms ordered arrays in multilamellar lipid matrices: insights into assembly of nucleic acid for primitive life.
abstract: A fundamental question of biology is how nucleic acids first assembled and then were incorporated into the earliest forms of cellular life 4 billion years ago. The polymerization of nucleotides is a condensation reaction in which phosphodiester bonds are formed. This reaction cannot occur in aqueous solutions, but guided polymerization in an anhydrous lipid environment could promote a non-enzymatic condensation reaction in which oligomers of single stranded nucleic acids are synthesized. We used X-ray scattering to investigate 5'-adenosine monophosphate (AMP) molecules captured in a multilamellar phospholipid matrix composed of dimyristoylphosphatidylcholine. Bragg peaks corresponding to the lateral organization of the confined AMP molecules were observed. Instead of forming a random array, the AMP molecules are highly entangled, with the phosphate and ribose groups in close proximity. This structure may facilitate polymerization of the nucleotides into RNA-like polymers.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Astronomy, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. toppozl@mcmaster.ca
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Toppozini
authors.forename: Hannah
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Dies
authors.forename: David W
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Deamer
authors.forename: Maikel C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Rheinstädter
mesh_terms: D000249:Adenosine Monophosphate / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism*; D004247:DNA / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D008051:Lipid Bilayers / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D008958:Models, Molecular; D008968:Molecular Conformation; D010710:Phosphates / Q000378:metabolism; D010743:Phospholipids / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism*; D012313:RNA / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D012266:Ribose / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D008051:Lipid Bilayers; D010710:Phosphates; D010743:Phospholipids; D000249:Adenosine Monophosphate; D012313:RNA; D012266:Ribose; D004247:DNA