Replikationsexperimente mit Nucleotidbasen-Analoga

Towards a Molecular Understanding of Cation-Anion Interactions and Self-aggregation of Adeninate Salts in DMSO by NMR and UV Spectroscopy and Crystallography

Rare anionic forms of nucleic acids play a significant biological role and lead to spontaneous mutations and replication and translational errors. There is a lack of information surrounding the stability and reactivity of these forms. Ion pairs of mono‐sodium and ‐potassium salts of adenine exist in DMSO solution with possible cation coordination sites at the N1, N7 and N9 atoms of the purine ring. At increasing concentrations π‐π stacked dimers are the predominant species of aggregates followed by higher order aggregation governed by coordination to metal cations in which the type of counter ion present has a central role in the aggregate formation.

Dry polymerization of 3',5'-cyclic GMP to long strands of RNA

Recent progress in the synthesis of nucleotides from prebiotically plausible precursors has opened up new ways to explain the origin of genetic matter. Mechanisms for the polymerization of nucleotides without the help of catalysts are, however, rare. Complementary to the experiments done by Costanzo et al., we found that drying 3',5'-cyclic GMP leads to poly-G RNA strands with lengths of up to 40 nucleotides. We also show that the polymerization to long RNA strands is considerably more efficient under dry conditions than for cGMP polymerization in water. The length depends on the incubation time of dry nucleotides at temperatures of 40-80 °C. No enzymes or other catalysts are needed for successful polymerization.