title: Phosphoribosylphosphate and phosphoribosylnicotinate pairing with phosphoribosylamine at the origin of the RNA world.
abstract: The gap between prebiotic chemistry and the RNA origin of life lies in the nature of the pre-ribonucleotides that initiated replication-like activity. The present paper illustrates how the constraints for self-catalytic synthesis of the building blocks point to ionic pairing of the first pre-ribonucleotides and point to a central role for nicotinate.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Génétique de Maladies Rares, Institut Universitaire de Recherche Clinique, Université de Montpellier, 34000 Montpellier, France; Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Montpellier, 34000 Montpellier, France. Electronic address: michel.koenig@inserm.fr.
authors.forename: Michel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Koenig
mesh_terms: D009536:Niacinamide / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism; D000069497:Origin of Life; D012313:RNA / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism; D012265:Ribonucleotides / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D012265:Ribonucleotides; D009536:Niacinamide; D012313:RNA
keywords: ionic pairing; phosphoribosyl-aspartate; pre-ribonucleotide; reduced carbon chemistry; self-catalytic synthesis