title: Copying of RNA Sequences without Pre-Activation.
abstract: Template-directed incorporation of nucleotides at the terminus of a growing complementary strand is the basis of replication. For RNA, this process can occur in the absence of enzymes, if the ribonucleotides are first converted to an active species with a leaving group. Thus far, the activation required a separate chemical step, complicating prebiotically plausible scenarios. Here we show that a combination of a carbodiimide and an organocatalyst induces near-quantitative incorporation of any of the four ribonucleotides. Upon in situ activation, adenosine monophosphate was found to also form oligomers in aqueous solution. So, both de novo strand formation and sequence-specific copying can occur without an artificial synthetic step.
authors.affiliation: Institut für Organische Chemie, Universität Stuttgart, 70569 Stuttgart (Germany).
authors.forename: Mario
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Jauker
authors.affiliation: Institut für Organische Chemie, Universität Stuttgart, 70569 Stuttgart (Germany).
authors.forename: Helmut
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Griesser
authors.affiliation: Institut für Organische Chemie, Universität Stuttgart, 70569 Stuttgart (Germany). lehrstuhl-2@oc.uni-stuttgart.de.
authors.forename: Clemens
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Richert
mesh_terms: D000249:Adenosine Monophosphate / Q000737:chemistry; D012313:RNA / Q000737:chemistry*; D017423:Sequence Analysis, RNA
chemical_list: D000249:Adenosine Monophosphate; D012313:RNA
keywords: RNA; genetic copying; nucleotides; oligomerization; replication