Generation of RNA molecules by a base-catalysed click-like reaction.

Giovanna Costanzo (1) , Raffaele Saladino (2) , Giorgia Botta (2) , Alessandra Giorgi (3) , Anita Scipioni (4) , Samanta Pino (5) , Ernesto Di Mauro (5)

1 CNR | IBPM - CNR Istituto di Biologia e Patologia Molecolari [Roma]
2 Dipartimento di Agrobiologia ed Agrochimica
3 Department of Biochemical Sciences
4 Dipartimento di Chimica
5 Department of Biology and Biotechnology "Charles Darwin"

The problem of the abiotic origin of RNA from prebiotically plausible compounds remains unsolved. As a potential partial solution, we report the spontaneous polymerization of 3',5'-cyclic GMP in water, in formamide, in dimethylformamide, and (in water) in the presence of a Brønsted base such as 1,8-diazabicycloundec-7-ene. The reaction is untemplated, does not require enzymatic activities, is thermodynamically favoured and selectively yields 3',5'-bonded ribopolymers containing as many as 25 nucleotides. We propose a reaction pathway on the basis of 1) the measured stacking of the 3',5'-cyclic monomers, 2) the activation by Brønsted bases, 3) the determination (by MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry, by (31)P NMR, and by specific ribonucleases) of the molecular species produced. The reaction pathway has several of the attributes of a click-like reaction.

Domaines: Biochimie, Biologie Moléculaire

Giovanna Costanzo, Raffaele Saladino, Giorgia Botta, Alessandra Giorgi, Anita Scipioni, et al.. Generation of RNA molecules by a base-catalysed click-like reaction.. ChemBioChem, 2012, 13 (7), pp.999-1008. ⟨10.1002/cbic.201200068⟩. ⟨pasteur-00960125⟩