title: Ribonucleotides and RNA Promote Peptide Chain Growth.
abstract: All known forms of life use RNA-mediated polypeptide synthesis to produce the proteins encoded in their genes. Because the principal parts of the translational machinery consist of RNA, it is likely that peptide synthesis was achieved early in the prebiotic evolution of an RNA-dominated molecular world. How RNA attracted amino acids and then induced peptide formation in the absence of enzymes has been unclear. Herein, we show that covalent capture of an amino acid as a phosphoramidate favors peptide formation. Peptide coupling is a robust process that occurs with different condensation agents. Kinetics show that covalent capture can accelerate chain growth over oligomerization of the free amino acid by at least one order of magnitude, so that there is no need for enzymatic catalysis for peptide synthesis to begin. Peptide chain growth was also observed on phosphate-terminated RNA strands. Peptide coupling promoted by ribonucleotides or ribonucleotide residues may have been an important transitional form of peptide synthesis that set in when amino acids were first captured by RNA.
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.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Tremmel
authors.affiliation: Institut für Organische Chemie, Universität Stuttgart, 70569, Stuttgart, Germany.
authors.forename: Eric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kervio
authors.affiliation: Institut für Organische Chemie, Universität Stuttgart, 70569, Stuttgart, Germany.
authors.forename: Camilla
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Pfeffer
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, University of Konstanz, 78457, Konstanz, Germany.
authors.forename: Ulrich E
authors.initials: UE
authors.lastname: Steiner
authors.affiliation: Institut für Organische Chemie, Universität Stuttgart, 70569, Stuttgart, Germany.
authors.forename: Clemens
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-6907-0205
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Richert
mesh_terms: D000596:Amino Acids / Q000378:metabolism; D007700:Kinetics; D010452:Peptide Biosynthesis; D010455:Peptides / Q000378:metabolism*; D012313:RNA / Q000378:metabolism*; D016337:RNA, Catalytic / Q000378:metabolism; D012265:Ribonucleotides / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D000596:Amino Acids; D010455:Peptides; D016337:RNA, Catalytic; D012265:Ribonucleotides; D012313:RNA
keywords: RNA; amino acids; nucleotides; peptides; prebiotic chemistry