title: Prebiotic synthesis of nucleic acids and their building blocks at the atomic level - merging models and mechanisms from advanced computations and experiments.
abstract: The origin of life on Earth is one of the most fascinating questions of contemporary science. Extensive research in the past decades furnished diverse experimental proposals for the emergence of first informational polymers that could form the basis of the early terrestrial life. Side by side with the experiments, the fast development of modern computational chemistry methods during the last 20 years facilitated the use of in silico modelling tools to complement the experiments. Modern computations can provide unique atomic-level insights into the structural and electronic aspects as well as the energetics of key prebiotic chemical reactions. Many of these insights are not directly obtainable from the experimental techniques and the computations are thus becoming indispensable for proper interpretation of many experiments and for qualified predictions. This review illustrates the synergy between experiment and theory in the origin of life research focusing on the prebiotic synthesis of various nucleic acid building blocks and on the self-assembly of nucleotides leading to the first functional oligonucleotides.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biophysics, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Královopolská 135, CZ-612 65 Brno, Czech Republic. sponer@ncbr.muni.cz and CEITEC - Central European Institute of Technology, Masaryk University, Campus Bohunice, Kamenice 5, CZ-62500 Brno, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Judit E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Šponer
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biophysics, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Královopolská 135, CZ-612 65 Brno, Czech Republic. sponer@ncbr.muni.cz.
authors.forename: Rafał
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Szabla
authors.affiliation: Theoretical Chemistry Group, Institute of Physical and Theoretical Chemistry, Wrocław University of Technology, Wybrzeże Wyspiańskiego 27, 50-370 Wrocław, Poland.
authors.forename: Robert W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Góra
authors.affiliation: Sorbonne Universités, Université Pierre et Marie Curie Paris 6, CNRS, Institut de Minéralogie, de Physique des Matériaux et de Cosmochimie, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, UMR 7590, F-75005 Paris, France.
authors.forename: A Marco
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Saitta
authors.affiliation: Sorbonne Universités, Université Pierre et Marie Curie Paris 6, CNRS, Institut de Minéralogie, de Physique des Matériaux et de Cosmochimie, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, UMR 7590, F-75005 Paris, France.
authors.forename: Fabio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Pietrucci
authors.affiliation: CNR-IPCF, Viale Ferdinando Stagno d'Alcontres 37, 98158 Messina, Italy.
authors.forename: Franz
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Saija
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Biologia e Biotecnologie "Charles Darwin", "Sapienza" Università di Roma, Piazzale Aldo Moro 5, Rome 00185, Italy.
authors.forename: Ernesto
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Di Mauro
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Scienze Ecologiche e Biologiche Università della Tuscia, Via San Camillo De Lellis, 01100 Viterbo, Italy.
authors.forename: Raffaele
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Saladino
authors.affiliation: J. Heyrovský Institute of Physical Chemistry, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Dolejškova 3, CZ-182 23 Prague 8, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ferus
authors.affiliation: J. Heyrovský Institute of Physical Chemistry, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Dolejškova 3, CZ-182 23 Prague 8, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Svatopluk
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Civiš
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biophysics, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Královopolská 135, CZ-612 65 Brno, Czech Republic. sponer@ncbr.muni.cz and CEITEC - Central European Institute of Technology, Masaryk University, Campus Bohunice, Kamenice 5, CZ-62500 Brno, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Jiří
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Šponer
mesh_terms: D019418:Evolution, Chemical; D056004:Molecular Dynamics Simulation; D009696:Nucleic Acids; D000069497:Origin of Life; D056692:Prebiotics
chemical_list: D009696:Nucleic Acids; D056692:Prebiotics