title: Enhanced Nonenzymatic RNA Copying with 2-Aminoimidazole Activated Nucleotides.
abstract: Achieving efficient nonenzymatic replication of RNA is an important step toward the synthesis of self-replicating protocells that may mimic early forms of life. Despite recent progress, the nonenzymatic copying of templates containing mixed sequences remains slow and inefficient. Here we demonstrate that activating nucleotides with 2-aminoimidazole results in superior reaction kinetics and improved yields of primer extension reaction products. This new leaving group significantly accelerates monomer addition as well as trimer-assisted RNA primer extension, allowing efficient copying of a variety of short RNA templates with mixed sequences.
authors.affiliation: Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Department of Molecular Biology and Center for Computational and Integrative Biology, Massachusetts General Hospital , Boston, Massachusetts 02114, United States.
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Department of Molecular Biology and Center for Computational and Integrative Biology, Massachusetts General Hospital , Boston, Massachusetts 02114, United States.
authors.forename: Noam
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Prywes
authors.affiliation: Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Department of Molecular Biology and Center for Computational and Integrative Biology, Massachusetts General Hospital , Boston, Massachusetts 02114, United States.
authors.forename: Chun Pong
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-6381-9011
authors.initials: CP
authors.lastname: Tam
authors.affiliation: Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Department of Molecular Biology and Center for Computational and Integrative Biology, Massachusetts General Hospital , Boston, Massachusetts 02114, United States.
authors.forename: Derek K
authors.initials: DK
authors.lastname: O'Flaherty
authors.affiliation: Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Department of Molecular Biology and Center for Computational and Integrative Biology, Massachusetts General Hospital , Boston, Massachusetts 02114, United States.
authors.forename: Victor S
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-3890-0288
authors.initials: VS
authors.lastname: Lelyveld
authors.affiliation: Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Department of Molecular Biology and Center for Computational and Integrative Biology, Massachusetts General Hospital , Boston, Massachusetts 02114, United States.
authors.forename: Enver Cagri
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-6673-3635
authors.initials: EC
authors.lastname: Izgu
authors.affiliation: Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Department of Molecular Biology and Center for Computational and Integrative Biology, Massachusetts General Hospital , Boston, Massachusetts 02114, United States.
authors.forename: Ayan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pal
authors.affiliation: Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Department of Molecular Biology and Center for Computational and Integrative Biology, Massachusetts General Hospital , Boston, Massachusetts 02114, United States.
authors.forename: Jack W
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-4131-1203
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Szostak
mesh_terms: D007093:Imidazoles / Q000737:chemistry*; D009711:Nucleotides / Q000737:chemistry*; D012313:RNA / Q000138:chemical synthesis* / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D007093:Imidazoles; D009711:Nucleotides; C034477:RNA primers; D012313:RNA; C014973:2-aminoimidazole