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Nogal N, Sanz-Sánchez M, Vela-Gallego S, Ruiz-Mirazo K, de la Escosura A. The protometabolic nature of prebiotic chemistry. Chem Soc Rev 2023; 52:7359-7388. [PMID: 37855729 PMCID: PMC10614573 DOI: 10.1039/d3cs00594a] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/28/2023] [Indexed: 10/20/2023]
Abstract
The field of prebiotic chemistry has been dedicated over decades to finding abiotic routes towards the molecular components of life. There is nowadays a handful of prebiotically plausible scenarios that enable the laboratory synthesis of most amino acids, fatty acids, simple sugars, nucleotides and core metabolites of extant living organisms. The major bottleneck then seems to be the self-organization of those building blocks into systems that can self-sustain. The purpose of this tutorial review is having a close look, guided by experimental research, into the main synthetic pathways of prebiotic chemistry, suggesting how they could be wired through common intermediates and catalytic cycles, as well as how recursively changing conditions could help them engage in self-organized and dissipative networks/assemblies (i.e., systems that consume chemical or physical energy from their environment to maintain their internal organization in a dynamic steady state out of equilibrium). In the article we also pay attention to the implications of this view for the emergence of homochirality. The revealed connectivity between those prebiotic routes should constitute the basis for a robust research program towards the bottom-up implementation of protometabolic systems, taken as a central part of the origins-of-life problem. In addition, this approach should foster further exploration of control mechanisms to tame the combinatorial explosion that typically occurs in mixtures of various reactive precursors, thus regulating the functional integration of their respective chemistries into self-sustaining protocellular assemblies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Noemí Nogal
- Department of Organic Chemistry, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Campus Cantoblanco, 28049, Madrid, Spain.
| | - Marcos Sanz-Sánchez
- Department of Organic Chemistry, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Campus Cantoblanco, 28049, Madrid, Spain.
| | - Sonia Vela-Gallego
- Department of Organic Chemistry, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Campus Cantoblanco, 28049, Madrid, Spain.
| | - Kepa Ruiz-Mirazo
- Biofisika Institute (CSIC, UPV/EHU), University of the Basque Country, Leioa, Spain
- Department of Philosophy, University of the Basque Country, Leioa, Spain
| | - Andrés de la Escosura
- Department of Organic Chemistry, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Campus Cantoblanco, 28049, Madrid, Spain.
- Institute for Advanced Research in Chemistry (IAdChem), Campus de Cantoblanco, 28049, Madrid, Spain
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2
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Ritson DJ, Sutherland JD. Thiophosphate photochemistry enables prebiotic access to sugars and terpenoid precursors. Nat Chem 2023; 15:1470-1477. [PMID: 37443293 PMCID: PMC10533393 DOI: 10.1038/s41557-023-01251-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/01/2019] [Accepted: 05/22/2023] [Indexed: 07/15/2023]
Abstract
Over the past few years, evidence has accrued that demonstrates that terrestrial photochemical reactions could have provided numerous (proto)biomolecules with implications for the origin of life. This chemistry simply relies on UV light, inorganic sulfur species and hydrogen cyanide. Recently, we reported that, under the same conditions, reduced phosphorus species, such as those delivered by meteorites, can be oxidized to orthophosphate, generating thiophosphate in the process. Here we describe an investigation of the properties of thiophosphate as well as additional possible means for its formation on primitive Earth. We show that several reported prebiotic reactions, including the photoreduction of thioamides, carbonyl groups and cyanohydrins, can be markedly improved, and that tetroses and pentoses can be accessed from hydrogen cyanide through a Kiliani-Fischer-type process without progressing to higher sugars. We also demonstrate that thiophosphate allows photochemical reductive aminations, and that thiophosphate chemistry allows a plausible prebiotic synthesis of the C5 moieties used in extant terpene and terpenoid biosynthesis, namely dimethylallyl alcohol and isopentenyl alcohol.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dougal J Ritson
- MRC - Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Cambridge, UK.
| | - John D Sutherland
- MRC - Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Cambridge, UK.
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3
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Ozturk SF, Sasselov DD, Sutherland JD. The central dogma of biological homochirality: How does chiral information propagate in a prebiotic network? J Chem Phys 2023; 159:061102. [PMID: 37551802 PMCID: PMC7615580 DOI: 10.1063/5.0156527] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/30/2023] [Accepted: 06/05/2023] [Indexed: 08/09/2023] Open
Abstract
Biological systems are homochiral, raising the question of how a racemic mixture of prebiotically synthesized biomolecules could attain a homochiral state at the network level. Based on our recent results, we aim to address a related question of how chiral information might have flowed in a prebiotic network. Utilizing the crystallization properties of the central ribonucleic acid (RNA) precursor known as ribose-aminooxazoline (RAO), we showed that its homochiral crystals can be obtained from its fully racemic solution on a magnetic mineral surface due to the chiral-induced spin selectivity (CISS) effect [Ozturk et al., arXiv:2303.01394 (2023)]. Moreover, we uncovered a mechanism facilitated by the CISS effect through which chiral molecules, such as RAO, can uniformly magnetize such surfaces in a variety of planetary environments in a persistent manner [Ozturk et al., arXiv:2304.09095 (2023)]. All this is very tantalizing because recent experiments with tRNA analogs demonstrate high stereoselectivity in the attachment of L-amino acids to D-ribonucleotides, enabling the transfer of homochirality from RNA to peptides [Wu et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 143, 11836 (2021)]. Therefore, the biological homochirality problem may be reduced to ensuring that a single common RNA precursor (e.g., RAO) can be made homochiral. The emergence of homochirality at RAO then allows for the chiral information to propagate through RNA, then to peptides, and ultimately through enantioselective catalysis to metabolites. This directionality of the chiral information flow parallels that of the central dogma of molecular biology-the unidirectional transfer of genetic information from nucleic acids to proteins [F. H. Crick, in Symposia of the Society for Experimental Biology, Number XII: The Biological Replication of Macromolecules, edited by F. K. Sanders (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1958), pp. 138-163; and F. Crick, Nature 227, 561 (1970)].
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Affiliation(s)
- S. Furkan Ozturk
- Department of Physics, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA
| | - Dimitar D. Sasselov
- Department of Astronomy, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA
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4
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Paczelt V, Wende RC, Schreiner PR, Eckhardt AK. Glycine Imine-The Elusive α-Imino Acid Intermediate in the Reductive Amination of Glyoxylic Acid. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl 2023; 62:e202218548. [PMID: 36656102 DOI: 10.1002/anie.202218548] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/15/2022] [Revised: 01/18/2023] [Accepted: 01/18/2023] [Indexed: 01/20/2023]
Abstract
Simple unhindered aldimines tend to hydrolyze or oligomerize and are therefore spectroscopically not well characterized. Herein we report the formation and spectroscopic characterization of the simplest imino acid, namely glycine imine, by cryogenic matrix isolation IR and UV/Vis spectroscopy. Glycine imine forms after UV irradiation of 2-azidoacetic acid by N2 extrusion in anti-(E,E)- and anti-(Z,Z)-conformation that can be photochemically interconverted. In matrix isolation pyrolysis experiments with 2-azidoacetic acid, glycine imine cannot be trapped as it further decarboxylates to aminomethylene. In aqueous solution glycine imine is hydrolyzed to hydroxy glycine and hydrated glyoxylic acid. At higher concentrations or in the presence of FeII SO4 as a reducing agent glycine imine undergoes self-reduction by oxidative decarboxylation chemistry. Glycine imine may be seen as one of the key reaction intermediates connecting prebiotic amino acid and sugar formation chemistry.
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Affiliation(s)
- Viktor Paczelt
- Lehrstuhl für Organische Chemie II, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Universitätsstraße 150, 44801, Bochum, Germany
| | - Raffael C Wende
- Institute of Organic Chemistry, Justus Liebig University, Heinrich-Buff-Ring 17, 35392, Giessen, Germany
| | - Peter R Schreiner
- Institute of Organic Chemistry, Justus Liebig University, Heinrich-Buff-Ring 17, 35392, Giessen, Germany
| | - André K Eckhardt
- Lehrstuhl für Organische Chemie II, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Universitätsstraße 150, 44801, Bochum, Germany
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5
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Ritson DJ, Poplawski MW, Bond AD, Sutherland JD. Azoles as Auxiliaries and Intermediates in Prebiotic Nucleoside Synthesis. J Am Chem Soc 2022; 144:19447-19455. [PMID: 36251009 DOI: 10.1021/jacs.2c07774] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
4,5-Dicyanoimidazole and 2-aminothiazole are azoles that have previously been implicated in prebiotic nucleotide synthesis. The former compound is a byproduct of adenine synthesis, and the latter compound has been shown to be capable of separating C2 and C3 sugars via crystallization as their aminals. We now report that the elusive intermediate cyanoacetylene can be captured by 4,5-dicyanoimidazole and accumulated as the crystalline compound N-cyanovinyl-4,5-dicyanoimidazole, thus providing a solution to the problem of concentration of atmospherically formed cyanoacetylene. Importantly, this intermediate is a competent cyanoacetylene surrogate, reacting with ribo-aminooxazoline in formamide to give ribo-anhydrocytidine ─ an intermediate in the divergent synthesis of purine and pyrimidine nucleotides. We also report a prebiotically plausible synthesis of 2-aminothiazole and examine the mechanism of its formation. The utilization of each of these azoles enhances the prebiotic synthesis of ribonucleotides, while their syntheses comport with the cyanosulfidic scenario we have previously described.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dougal J Ritson
- MRC - Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Francis Crick Avenue, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Cambridge CB2 0QH, U.K
| | - Mikolaj W Poplawski
- Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge, Lensfield Road, Cambridge CB2 0QH, U.K
| | - Andrew D Bond
- Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge, Lensfield Road, Cambridge CB2 0QH, U.K
| | - John D Sutherland
- MRC - Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Francis Crick Avenue, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Cambridge CB2 0QH, U.K
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6
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On the origins of life's homochirality: Inducing enantiomeric excess with spin-polarized electrons. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2022; 119:e2204765119. [PMID: 35787048 PMCID: PMC9282223 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2204765119] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Life as we know it is homochiral, but the origins of biological homochirality on early Earth remain elusive. Shallow closed-basin lakes are a plausible prebiotic environment on early Earth, and most are expected to have significant sedimentary magnetite deposits. We hypothesize that ultraviolet (200- to 300-nm) irradiation of magnetite deposits could generate hydrated spin-polarized electrons sufficient to induce enantioselective prebiotic chemistry. Such electrons are potent reducing agents that drive reduction reactions where the spin polarization direction can enantioselectively alter the reaction kinetics. Our estimate of this chiral bias is based on the strong effective spin-orbit coupling observed in the chiral-induced spin selectivity (CISS) effect, as applied to energy differences in reduction reactions for different isomers. In the original CISS experiments, spin-selective electron transmission through a monolayer of double-strand DNA molecules is observed at room temperature-indicating a strong coupling between molecular chirality and electron spin. We propose that the chiral symmetry breaking due to the CISS effect, when applied to reduction chemistry, can induce enantioselective synthesis on the prebiotic Earth and thus facilitate the homochiral assembly of life's building blocks.
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7
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Grosch M, Stiebritz MT, Bolney R, Winkler M, Jückstock E, Busch H, Peters S, Siegle AF, van Slageren J, Ribbe M, Hu Y, Trapp O, Robl C, Weigand W. Mackinawite supported reduction of C1 substrates into prebiotically relevant precursors. CHEMSYSTEMSCHEM 2022. [DOI: 10.1002/syst.202200010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Mario Grosch
- Friedrich Schiller Universitat Jena Chemisch Geowissenschaftliche Fakultat IAAC GERMANY
| | - Martin T Stiebritz
- UC Irvine: University of California Irvine Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry UNITED STATES
| | - Robert Bolney
- Friedrich Schiller Universitat Jena Chemisch Geowissenschaftliche Fakultat IAAC GERMANY
| | - Mario Winkler
- Universität Stuttgart Fakultät 3 Chemie: Universitat Stuttgart Fakultat 3 Chemie IPC GERMANY
| | - Eric Jückstock
- Friedrich Schiller Universitat Jena Chemisch Geowissenschaftliche Fakultat IAAC GERMANY
| | - Hannah Busch
- Friedrich Schiller Universitat Jena Chemisch Geowissenschaftliche Fakultat IAAC GERMANY
| | - Sophia Peters
- Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München Fakultät für Chemie und Pharmazie: Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitat Munchen Fakultat fur Chemie und Pharmazie Department of Chemistry GERMANY
| | - Alexander F. Siegle
- Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München Fakultät für Chemie und Pharmazie: Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitat Munchen Fakultat fur Chemie und Pharmazie Department of Chemistry GERMANY
| | - Joris van Slageren
- Universität Stuttgart Fakultät 3 Chemie: Universitat Stuttgart Fakultat 3 Chemie IPC GERMANY
| | - Markus Ribbe
- UC Irvine: University of California Irvine Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry GERMANY
| | - Yilin Hu
- UC Irvine: University of California Irvine Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry UNITED STATES
| | - Oliver Trapp
- Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München Fakultät für Geowissenschaften: Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitat Munchen Fakultat fur Geowissenschaften Department of Chemistry UNITED STATES
| | - Christian Robl
- Friedrich Schiller Universitat Jena Chemisch Geowissenschaftliche Fakultat IAAC GERMANY
| | - Wolfgang Weigand
- Institut fuer Anorganische und Analytische Chemie Friedrich-Schiller-Universitaet Jena Humboldtstrasse 8 07743 Jena GERMANY
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8
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Freeze-thaw cycles enable a prebiotically plausible and continuous pathway from nucleotide activation to nonenzymatic RNA copying. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2022; 119:e2116429119. [PMID: 35446612 PMCID: PMC9169909 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2116429119] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
The replication of RNA without the aid of evolved enzymes may have enabled the inheritance of useful molecular functions during the origin of life. Template-directed RNA copying is a posited step in RNA replication. Key steps on the path to copying of RNA templates have been studied in isolation, including chemical nucleotide activation, generation of a key reactive intermediate, and template-directed polymerization. Here we report a prebiotically plausible scenario under which these reactions can happen together under mutually compatible conditions. Thus, this pathway could potentially have operated in nature without the complicating requirement for exchange of materials between distinct environments. Nonenzymatic template-directed RNA copying using chemically activated nucleotides is thought to have played a key role in the emergence of genetic information on the early Earth. A longstanding question concerns the number and nature of different environments that might have been necessary to enable all of the steps from nucleotide synthesis to RNA copying. Here we explore three sequential steps from this overall pathway: nucleotide activation, synthesis of imidazolium-bridged dinucleotides, and template-directed RNA copying. We find that all three steps can take place in one reaction mixture undergoing multiple freeze-thaw cycles. Recent experiments have demonstrated a potentially prebiotic methyl isocyanide-based nucleotide activation chemistry. However, the original version of this approach is incompatible with nonenzymatic RNA copying because the high required concentration of the imidazole activating group prevents the accumulation of the essential imidazolium-bridged dinucleotide. Here we report that ice eutectic phase conditions facilitate not only the methyl isocyanide-based activation of ribonucleotide 5′-monophosphates with stoichiometric 2-aminoimidazole, but also the subsequent conversion of these activated mononucleotides into imidazolium-bridged dinucleotides. Furthermore, this one-pot approach is compatible with template-directed RNA copying in the same reaction mixture. Our results suggest that the simple and common environmental fluctuation of freeze-thaw cycles could have played an important role in prebiotic nucleotide activation and nonenzymatic RNA copying.
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9
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Ritson DJ. A cyanosulfidic origin of the Krebs cycle. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2021; 7:7/33/eabh3981. [PMID: 34389542 PMCID: PMC8363140 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abh3981] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/05/2021] [Accepted: 06/25/2021] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
The centrality of the Krebs cycle in metabolism has long been interpreted as evidence of its antiquity, and consequently, questions regarding its provenance, and whether it initially functioned as a cycle or not, have received much attention. The present report shows that prebiotic oxidation of α-hydroxy carboxylates can be achieved by UV photolysis of a simple geochemical species (HS-), which leads to α-oxo carboxylates that feature in the Krebs cycle and glyoxylate shunt. Further reaction of these products leads to almost all intermediates of the Krebs cycle proper, succinate semialdehyde bypass, and glyoxylate shunt. Fumarate, the missing Krebs cycle component, and the required α-hydroxy carboxylates can be provided by a highly related hydrogen cyanide chemistry, which also provides precursors for amino acids, nucleotides, and phospholipids.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dougal J Ritson
- MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Francis Crick Avenue, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Cambridge CB2 0QH, UK.
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10
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Adams D, Luo Y, Wong ML, Dunn P, Christensen M, Dong C, Hu R, Yung Y. Nitrogen Fixation at Early Mars. ASTROBIOLOGY 2021; 21:968-980. [PMID: 34339294 DOI: 10.1089/ast.2020.2273] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
The Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) recently discovered nitrates in Gale Crater (e.g., Stern et al., 2015; Sutter et al., 2017). One possible mechanism for ancient nitrate deposition on Mars is through HNOx formation and rain out in the atmosphere, for which lightning-induced NO is likely the fundamental source. This study investigates nitrogen (N2) fixation in early Mars' atmosphere, with implications for early Mars' habitability. We consider a 1 bar atmosphere of background CO2, with abundance of N2, hydrogen, and methane varied from 1% to 10% to explore a swath of potential early Mars climates. We derive lightning-induced thermochemical equilibrium fluxes of NO and HCN by coupling the lightning-rate parametrization from the study of Romps et al. (2014) with chemical equilibrium with applications, and we use a Geant4 simulation platform to estimate the effect of solar energetic particle events. These fluxes are used as input into KINETICS, the Caltech/JPL coupled photochemistry and transport code, which models the chemistry of 50 species linked by 495 reactions to derive rain-out fluxes of HNOx and HCN. We compute equilibrium concentrations of cyanide and nitrate in a putative northern ocean at early Mars, assuming hydrothermal vent circulation and photoreduction act as the dominant loss mechanisms. We find average oceanic concentrations of ∼0.1-2 nM nitrate and ∼0.01-2 mM cyanide. HCN is critical for protein synthesis at concentrations >0.01 M (e.g., Holm and Neubeck, 2009), and our result is astrobiologically significant if secondary local concentration mechanisms occurred. Nitrates may act as high-potential electron acceptors for early metabolisms, although the minimum concentration required is unknown. Our study derives concentrations that will be useful for future laboratory studies to investigate the habitability at early Mars. The aqueous nitrate concentrations correspond to surface nitrate precipitates of ∼1-8 × 10-4 wt % that may have formed after the evaporation of surface waters, and these values roughly agree with recent MSL measurements.
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Affiliation(s)
- Danica Adams
- Department of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA
| | - Yangcheng Luo
- Department of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA
| | - Michael L Wong
- Department of Astronomy and Astrobiology Program, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA
- Virtual Planet Laboratory, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA
| | - Patrick Dunn
- Space Sciences Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California, USA
| | - Madeline Christensen
- Department of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA
- Bellarmine Preparatory, Tacoma, Washington, USA
| | - Chuanfei Dong
- Department of Astrophysical Sciences, Princeton University, Princeton, California, USA
| | - Renyu Hu
- Department of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA
- Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA
| | - Yuk Yung
- Department of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA
- Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA
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11
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Abstract
A major goal of synthetic biology is to understand the transition between non-living matter and life. The bottom-up development of an artificial cell would provide a minimal system with which to study the border between chemistry and biology. So far, a fully synthetic cell has remained elusive, but chemists are progressing towards this goal by reconstructing cellular subsystems. Cell boundaries, likely in the form of lipid membranes, were necessary for the emergence of life. In addition to providing a protective barrier between cellular cargo and the external environment, lipid compartments maintain homeostasis with other subsystems to regulate cellular processes. In this Review, we examine different chemical approaches to making cell-mimetic compartments. Synthetic strategies to drive membrane formation and function, including bioorthogonal ligations, dissipative self-assembly and reconstitution of biochemical pathways, are discussed. Chemical strategies aim to recreate the interactions between lipid membranes, the external environment and internal biomolecules, and will clarify our understanding of life at the interface of chemistry and biology.
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12
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Villafañe-Barajas SA, Ruiz-Bermejo M, Rayo-Pizarroso P, Gálvez-Martínez S, Mateo-Martí E, Colín-García M. A Lizardite-HCN Interaction Leading the Increasing of Molecular Complexity in an Alkaline Hydrothermal Scenario: Implications for Origin of Life Studies. Life (Basel) 2021; 11:life11070661. [PMID: 34357033 PMCID: PMC8305185 DOI: 10.3390/life11070661] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/17/2021] [Revised: 06/18/2021] [Accepted: 06/29/2021] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Hydrogen cyanide, HCN, is considered a fundamental molecule in chemical evolution. The named HCN polymers have been suggested as precursors of important bioorganics. Some novel researches have focused on the role of mineral surfaces in the hydrolysis and/or polymerization of cyanide species, but until now, their role has been unclear. Understanding the role of minerals in chemical evolution processes is crucial because minerals undoubtedly interacted with the organic molecules formed on the early Earth by different process. Therefore, we simulated the probable interactions between HCN and a serpentinite-hosted alkaline hydrothermal system. We studied the effect of serpentinite during the thermolysis of HCN at basic conditions (i.e., HCN 0.15 M, 50 h, 100 °C, pH > 10). The HCN-derived thermal polymer and supernatant formed after treatment were analyzed by several complementary analytical techniques. The results obtained suggest that: (I) the mineral surfaces can act as mediators in the mechanisms of organic molecule production such as the polymerization of HCN; (II) the thermal and physicochemical properties of the HCN polymer produced are affected by the presence of the mineral surface; and (III) serpentinite seems to inhibit the formation of bioorganic molecules compared with the control (without mineral).
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Affiliation(s)
- Saúl A. Villafañe-Barajas
- Posgrado en Ciencias de la Tierra, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad Universitaria, Mexico City 04510, Mexico;
| | - Marta Ruiz-Bermejo
- Departamento de Evolución Molecular, Centro de Astrobiología (CSIC-INTA), Ctra, Torrejón-Ajalvir, km 4, Torrejón de Ardoz, 28850 Madrid, Spain; (P.R.-P.); (S.G.-M.); (E.M.-M.)
- Correspondence: ; Tel.: +34-915206458; Fax: +34-915206410
| | - Pedro Rayo-Pizarroso
- Departamento de Evolución Molecular, Centro de Astrobiología (CSIC-INTA), Ctra, Torrejón-Ajalvir, km 4, Torrejón de Ardoz, 28850 Madrid, Spain; (P.R.-P.); (S.G.-M.); (E.M.-M.)
| | - Santos Gálvez-Martínez
- Departamento de Evolución Molecular, Centro de Astrobiología (CSIC-INTA), Ctra, Torrejón-Ajalvir, km 4, Torrejón de Ardoz, 28850 Madrid, Spain; (P.R.-P.); (S.G.-M.); (E.M.-M.)
| | - Eva Mateo-Martí
- Departamento de Evolución Molecular, Centro de Astrobiología (CSIC-INTA), Ctra, Torrejón-Ajalvir, km 4, Torrejón de Ardoz, 28850 Madrid, Spain; (P.R.-P.); (S.G.-M.); (E.M.-M.)
| | - María Colín-García
- Instituto de Geología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad Universitaria, Mexico City 04510, Mexico;
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13
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Legnani L, Darù A, Jones AX, Blackmond DG. Mechanistic Insight into the Origin of Stereoselectivity in the Ribose-Mediated Strecker Synthesis of Alanine. J Am Chem Soc 2021; 143:7852-7858. [PMID: 33979125 DOI: 10.1021/jacs.1c03552] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Enantioenriched amino acids are produced in a hydrolytic kinetic resolution of racemic aminonitriles mediated by chiral pentose sugars. Experimental kinetic and spectroscopic results combined with DFT computational studies and microkinetic modeling help to identify the nature of the intermediate species and provide insight into the stereoselectivity of their hydrolysis in the prebiotically relevant ribose-alanine system. These studies support a synergistic role for sugars and amino acids in the emergence of homochirality in biological molecules.
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Affiliation(s)
- Luca Legnani
- Department of Chemistry, Scripps Research, La Jolla, California 92037, United States
| | - Andrea Darù
- Department of Chemistry, Scripps Research, La Jolla, California 92037, United States
| | - Alexander X Jones
- Department of Chemistry, Scripps Research, La Jolla, California 92037, United States
| | - Donna G Blackmond
- Department of Chemistry, Scripps Research, La Jolla, California 92037, United States
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14
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Green NJ, Xu J, Sutherland JD. Illuminating Life's Origins: UV Photochemistry in Abiotic Synthesis of Biomolecules. J Am Chem Soc 2021; 143:7219-7236. [PMID: 33880920 PMCID: PMC8240947 DOI: 10.1021/jacs.1c01839] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/16/2021] [Indexed: 01/15/2023]
Abstract
Solar radiation is the principal source of energy available to Earth and has unmatched potential for the synthesis of organic material from primordial molecular building blocks. As well as providing the energy for photochemical synthesis of (proto)biomolecules of interest in origins of life-related research, light has also been found to often provide remarkable selectivity in these processes, for molecules that function in extant biology and against those that do not. As such, light is heavily implicated as an environmental input on the nascent Earth that was important for the emergence of complex yet selective chemical systems underpinning life. Reactivity and selectivity in photochemical prebiotic synthesis are discussed, as are their implications for origins of life scenarios and their plausibility, and the future directions of this research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nicholas J. Green
- MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Francis Crick Avenue, Cambridge
Biomedical Campus, Cambridge CB2 0QH, U.K.
| | - Jianfeng Xu
- MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Francis Crick Avenue, Cambridge
Biomedical Campus, Cambridge CB2 0QH, U.K.
| | - John D. Sutherland
- MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Francis Crick Avenue, Cambridge
Biomedical Campus, Cambridge CB2 0QH, U.K.
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15
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Murayama K, Okita H, Kuriki T, Asanuma H. Nonenzymatic polymerase-like template-directed synthesis of acyclic L-threoninol nucleic acid. Nat Commun 2021; 12:804. [PMID: 33547322 PMCID: PMC7864931 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-21128-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/24/2020] [Accepted: 01/04/2021] [Indexed: 02/08/2023] Open
Abstract
Evolution of xeno nucleic acid (XNA) world essentially requires template-directed synthesis of XNA polymers. In this study, we demonstrate template-directed synthesis of an acyclic XNA, acyclic L-threoninol nucleic acid (L-aTNA), via chemical ligation mediated by N-cyanoimidazole. The ligation of an L-aTNA fragment on an L-aTNA template is significantly faster and occurs in considerably higher yield than DNA ligation. Both L-aTNA ligation on a DNA template and DNA ligation on an L-aTNA template are also observed. High efficiency ligation of trimer L-aTNA fragments to a template-bound primer is achieved. Furthermore, a pseudo primer extension reaction is demonstrated using a pool of random L-aTNA trimers as substrates. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first example of polymerase-like primer extension of XNA with all four nucleobases, generating phosphodiester bonding without any special modification. This technique paves the way for a genetic system of the L-aTNA world.
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Affiliation(s)
- Keiji Murayama
- Graduate School of Engineering, Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya, 464-8603, Japan.
| | - Hikari Okita
- Graduate School of Engineering, Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya, 464-8603, Japan
| | - Takumi Kuriki
- Graduate School of Engineering, Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya, 464-8603, Japan
| | - Hiroyuki Asanuma
- Graduate School of Engineering, Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya, 464-8603, Japan.
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16
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Adam ZR, Fahrenbach AC, Jacobson SM, Kacar B, Zubarev DY. Radiolysis generates a complex organosynthetic chemical network. Sci Rep 2021; 11:1743. [PMID: 33462313 PMCID: PMC7813863 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-81293-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/11/2020] [Accepted: 01/01/2021] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
The architectural features of cellular life and its ecologies at larger scales are built upon foundational networks of reactions between molecules that avoid a collapse to equilibrium. The search for life’s origins is, in some respects, a search for biotic network attributes in abiotic chemical systems. Radiation chemistry has long been employed to model prebiotic reaction networks, and here we report network-level analyses carried out on a compiled database of radiolysis reactions, acquired by the scientific community over decades of research. The resulting network shows robust connections between abundant geochemical reservoirs and the production of carboxylic acids, amino acids, and ribonucleotide precursors—the chemistry of which is predominantly dependent on radicals. Moreover, the network exhibits the following measurable attributes associated with biological systems: (1) the species connectivity histogram exhibits a heterogeneous (heavy-tailed) distribution, (2) overlapping families of closed-loop cycles, and (3) a hierarchical arrangement of chemical species with a bottom-heavy energy-size spectrum. The latter attribute is implicated with stability and entropy production in complex systems, notably in ecology where it is known as a trophic pyramid. Radiolysis is implicated as a driver of abiotic chemical organization and could provide insights about the complex and perhaps radical-dependent mechanisms associated with life’s origins.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zachary R Adam
- Department of Planetary Sciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, 85721, USA. .,Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA.
| | - Albert C Fahrenbach
- School of Chemistry, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, 2052, Australia
| | - Sofia M Jacobson
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, 85721, USA
| | - Betul Kacar
- Department of Planetary Sciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, 85721, USA.,Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, 85721, USA.,Department of Astronomy, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, 85721, USA.,Earth-Life Science Institute, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, Japan
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17
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Tran QP, Adam ZR, Fahrenbach AC. Prebiotic Reaction Networks in Water. Life (Basel) 2020; 10:E352. [PMID: 33339192 PMCID: PMC7765580 DOI: 10.3390/life10120352] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/30/2020] [Revised: 12/05/2020] [Accepted: 12/06/2020] [Indexed: 02/07/2023] Open
Abstract
A prevailing strategy in origins of life studies is to explore how chemistry constrained by hypothetical prebiotic conditions could have led to molecules and system level processes proposed to be important for life's beginnings. This strategy has yielded model prebiotic reaction networks that elucidate pathways by which relevant compounds can be generated, in some cases, autocatalytically. These prebiotic reaction networks provide a rich platform for further understanding and development of emergent "life-like" behaviours. In this review, recent advances in experimental and analytical procedures associated with classical prebiotic reaction networks, like formose and Miller-Urey, as well as more recent ones are highlighted. Instead of polymeric networks, i.e., those based on nucleic acids or peptides, the focus is on small molecules. The future of prebiotic chemistry lies in better understanding the genuine complexity that can result from reaction networks and the construction of a centralised database of reactions useful for predicting potential network evolution is emphasised.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Zachary R. Adam
- Department of Planetary Sciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA;
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18
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Liu Z, Wu LF, Bond AD, Sutherland JD. Photoredox chemistry in the synthesis of 2-aminoazoles implicated in prebiotic nucleic acid synthesis. Chem Commun (Camb) 2020; 56:13563-13566. [PMID: 33151212 PMCID: PMC7808312 DOI: 10.1039/d0cc05752e] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/25/2020] [Accepted: 10/07/2020] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
Prebiotically plausible ferrocyanide-ferricyanide photoredox cycling oxidatively converts thiourea to cyanamide, whilst HCN is reductively homologated to intermediates which either react directly with the cyanamide giving 2-aminoazoles, or have the potential to do so upon loss of HCN from the system. Thiourea itself is produced by heating ammonium thiocyanate, a product of the reaction of HCN and hydrogen sulfide under UV irradiation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ziwei Liu
- MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology
,
Cambridge Biomedical Campus
, Cambridge
, UK
.
| | - Long-Fei Wu
- MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology
,
Cambridge Biomedical Campus
, Cambridge
, UK
.
| | - Andrew D. Bond
- Department of Chemistry
, University of Cambridge
,
Cambridge
, UK
| | - John D. Sutherland
- MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology
,
Cambridge Biomedical Campus
, Cambridge
, UK
.
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19
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Liu Z. Synthesis of Prebiotic Building Blocks by Photochemistry. Chem Res Chin Univ 2020. [DOI: 10.1007/s40242-020-0289-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
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20
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Wołos A, Roszak R, Żądło-Dobrowolska A, Beker W, Mikulak-Klucznik B, Spólnik G, Dygas M, Szymkuć S, Grzybowski BA. Synthetic connectivity, emergence, and
self-regeneration in the network of prebiotic
chemistry. Science 2020; 369:369/6511/eaaw1955. [DOI: 10.1126/science.aaw1955] [Citation(s) in RCA: 48] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/27/2018] [Revised: 03/28/2020] [Accepted: 07/24/2020] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
The challenge of prebiotic chemistry is to
trace the syntheses of life’s key building blocks
from a handful of primordial substrates. Here we
report a forward-synthesis algorithm that
generates a full network of prebiotic chemical
reactions accessible from these substrates under
generally accepted conditions. This network
contains both reported and previously unidentified
routes to biotic targets, as well as plausible
syntheses of abiotic molecules. It also exhibits
three forms of nontrivial chemical emergence, as
the molecules within the network can act as
catalysts of downstream reaction types; form
functional chemical systems, including
self-regenerating cycles; and produce surfactants
relevant to primitive forms of biological
compartmentalization. To support these claims,
computer-predicted, prebiotic syntheses of several
biotic molecules as well as a multistep,
self-regenerative cycle of iminodiacetic acid were
validated by experiment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Agnieszka Wołos
- Institute of Organic Chemistry,
Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw,
Poland
- Allchemy, Inc., Highland, IN,
USA
| | - Rafał Roszak
- Institute of Organic Chemistry,
Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw,
Poland
- Allchemy, Inc., Highland, IN,
USA
| | | | - Wiktor Beker
- Institute of Organic Chemistry,
Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw,
Poland
- Allchemy, Inc., Highland, IN,
USA
| | - Barbara Mikulak-Klucznik
- Institute of Organic Chemistry,
Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw,
Poland
- Allchemy, Inc., Highland, IN,
USA
| | - Grzegorz Spólnik
- Institute of Organic Chemistry,
Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw,
Poland
| | - Mirosław Dygas
- Institute of Organic Chemistry,
Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw,
Poland
| | - Sara Szymkuć
- Institute of Organic Chemistry,
Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw,
Poland
- Allchemy, Inc., Highland, IN,
USA
| | - Bartosz A. Grzybowski
- Institute of Organic Chemistry,
Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw,
Poland
- Allchemy, Inc., Highland, IN,
USA
- Center for Soft and Living Matter of
Korea’s Institute for Basic Science (IBS), Ulsan,
South Korea
- Department of Chemistry, Ulsan
National Institute of Science and Technology,
Ulsan, South Korea
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21
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Zhang SJ, Duzdevich D, Szostak JW. Potentially Prebiotic Activation Chemistry Compatible with Nonenzymatic RNA Copying. J Am Chem Soc 2020; 142:14810-14813. [PMID: 32794700 PMCID: PMC9594304 DOI: 10.1021/jacs.0c05300] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/20/2022]
Abstract
![]()
The nonenzymatic replication of ribonucleic
acid (RNA) may have
enabled the propagation of genetic information during the origin of
life. RNA copying can be initiated in the laboratory with chemically
activated nucleotides, but continued copying requires a source of
chemical energy for in situ nucleotide activation.
Recent work has illuminated a potentially prebiotic cyanosulfidic
chemistry that activates nucleotides, but its application to nonenzymatic
RNA copying had not been demonstrated. Here, we report a novel pathway
that activates RNA nucleotides in a manner compatible with template-directed
nonenzymatic copying. We show that this pathway, which we refer to
as bridge-forming activation, selectively yields the reactive imidazolium-bridged
dinucleotide intermediate required for copying. Our results will enable
more realistic simulations of RNA propagation based on continuous in situ nucleotide activation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stephanie J Zhang
- Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard University, 12 Oxford Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, United States
| | - Daniel Duzdevich
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Department of Molecular Biology, and Center for Computational and Integrative Biology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts 02114, United States
| | - Jack W Szostak
- Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard University, 12 Oxford Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, United States.,Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Department of Molecular Biology, and Center for Computational and Integrative Biology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts 02114, United States
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22
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Selective prebiotic formation of RNA pyrimidine and DNA purine nucleosides. Nature 2020; 582:60-66. [PMID: 32494078 DOI: 10.1038/s41586-020-2330-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 77] [Impact Index Per Article: 19.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/12/2019] [Accepted: 04/16/2020] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
The nature of the first genetic polymer is the subject of major debate1. Although the 'RNA world' theory suggests that RNA was the first replicable information carrier of the prebiotic era-that is, prior to the dawn of life2,3-other evidence implies that life may have started with a heterogeneous nucleic acid genetic system that included both RNA and DNA4. Such a theory streamlines the eventual 'genetic takeover' of homogeneous DNA from RNA as the principal information-storage molecule, but requires a selective abiotic synthesis of both RNA and DNA building blocks in the same local primordial geochemical scenario. Here we demonstrate a high-yielding, completely stereo-, regio- and furanosyl-selective prebiotic synthesis of the purine deoxyribonucleosides: deoxyadenosine and deoxyinosine. Our synthesis uses key intermediates in the prebiotic synthesis of the canonical pyrimidine ribonucleosides (cytidine and uridine), and we show that, once generated, the pyrimidines persist throughout the synthesis of the purine deoxyribonucleosides, leading to a mixture of deoxyadenosine, deoxyinosine, cytidine and uridine. These results support the notion that purine deoxyribonucleosides and pyrimidine ribonucleosides may have coexisted before the emergence of life5.
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23
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Ritson DJ, Mojzsis SJ, Sutherland JD. Supply of phosphate to early Earth by photogeochemistry after meteoritic weathering. NATURE GEOSCIENCE 2020; 13:344-348. [PMID: 32395178 PMCID: PMC7213494 DOI: 10.1038/s41561-020-0556-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/17/2019] [Accepted: 02/19/2020] [Indexed: 05/24/2023]
Abstract
During terrestrial differentiation, the relatively small amount of phosphorus that migrated to the lithosphere was incorporated into igneous rock, predominantly in the form of basic calcium orthophosphate (Ca10(PO4)6(OH,F,Cl)2, apatite). Yet, the highly insoluble nature of calcium apatite presents a significant problem to those contemplating the origin of life given the foundational role of phosphate (PO4 3-) in extant biology and the apparent requirement for PO4 3- as a catalyst, buffer and reagent in prebiotic chemistry. Reduced meteorites such as enstatite chondrites are highly enriched in phosphide minerals, and upon reaction with water these minerals can release phosphorus species of various oxidation states. Here, we demonstrate how reduced phosphorus species can be fully oxidized to PO4 3- simply by the action of ultraviolet light on H2S/HS-. We used low pressure Hg lamps to simulate UV output from the young Sun and 31P NMR spectroscopy to monitor the progress of reactions. Our experimental findings provide a cosmochemically and geochemically plausible means for supply of PO4 3- that was widely available to prebiotic chemistry and nascent life on early Earth, and potentially on other planets.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dougal J. Ritson
- MRC – Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Francis Crick Avenue, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Cambridge, CB2 0QH, U.K
| | - Stephen J. Mojzsis
- Department of Geological Sciences, University of Colorado, UCB 399, 2200 Colorado Avenue, Boulder, CO 80309-0399, USA
- Institute for Geological and Geochemical Research, Research Centre for Astronomy and Earth Sciences, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, 45 Budaörsi Street, H-1112 Budapest, Hungary
| | - John. D. Sutherland
- MRC – Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Francis Crick Avenue, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Cambridge, CB2 0QH, U.K
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24
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Benner SA, Bell EA, Biondi E, Brasser R, Carell T, Kim H, Mojzsis SJ, Omran A, Pasek MA, Trail D. When Did Life Likely Emerge on Earth in an RNA‐First Process? CHEMSYSTEMSCHEM 2020. [DOI: 10.1002/syst.201900035] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Steven A. Benner
- Foundation for Applied Molecular Evolution Alachua FL USA
- Firebird Biomolecular Sciences LLC Alachua FL USA
| | - Elizabeth A. Bell
- Department of Earth, Planetary, and Space SciencesUniversity of California Los Angeles USA
| | - Elisa Biondi
- Foundation for Applied Molecular Evolution Alachua FL USA
| | - Ramon Brasser
- Earth Life Science InstituteTokyo Institute of Technology Tokyo Japan
| | - Thomas Carell
- Fakultät für Chemie und PharmazieLudwig-Maximilians-Universität München Germany
| | | | - Stephen J. Mojzsis
- Department of Geological SciencesUniversity of Colorado Boulder CO USA
- Hungarian Academy of Sciences Budapest Hungary
| | - Arthur Omran
- School of GeosciencesUniversity of South Florida Tampa, FL USA
| | | | - Dustin Trail
- Department of Earth and Environmental SciencesUniversity of Rochester Rochester NY USA
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25
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Hawkins K, Patterson AK, Clarke PA, Smith DK. Catalytic Gels for a Prebiotically Relevant Asymmetric Aldol Reaction in Water: From Organocatalyst Design to Hydrogel Discovery and Back Again. J Am Chem Soc 2020; 142:4379-4389. [PMID: 32023044 PMCID: PMC7146862 DOI: 10.1021/jacs.9b13156] [Citation(s) in RCA: 42] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/06/2019] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
This paper reports an investigation into organocatalytic hydrogels as prebiotically relevant systems. Gels are interesting prebiotic reaction media, combining heterogeneous and homogeneous characteristics with a structurally organized active "solid-like" catalyst separated from the surrounding environment, yet in intimate contact with the solution phase and readily accessible via "liquid-like" diffusion. A simple self-assembling glutamine amide derivative 1 was initially found to catalyze a model aldol reaction between cyclohexanone and 4-nitrobenzaldehyde, but it did not maintain its gel structure during reaction. In this study, it was observed that compound 1 could react directly with the benzaldehyde to form a hydrogel in situ based on Schiff base 2 as a low-molecular-weight gelator (LMWG). This new dynamic gel is a rare example of a two-component self-assembled LMWG hydrogel and was fully characterized. It was demonstrated that glutamine amide 1 could select an optimal aldehyde component and preferentially assemble from mixtures. In the hunt for an organocatalyst, reductive conditions were applied to the Schiff base to yield secondary amine 3, which is also a highly effective hydrogelator at very low loadings with a high degree of nanoscale order. Most importantly, the hydrogel based on 3 catalyzed the prebiotically relevant aldol dimerization of glycolaldehyde to give threose and erythrose. In buffered conditions, this reaction gave excellent conversions, good diastereoselectivity, and some enantioselectivity. Catalysis using the hydrogel of 3 was much better than that using non-assembled 3-demonstrating a clear benefit of self-assembly. The results suggest that hydrogels offer a potential strategy by which prebiotic reactions can be promoted using simple, prebiotically plausible LMWGs that can selectively self-organize from complex mixtures. Such processes may have been of prebiotic importance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kirsten Hawkins
- Department of Chemistry, University
of York, Heslington, York YO10 5DD, U.K.
| | - Anna K. Patterson
- Department of Chemistry, University
of York, Heslington, York YO10 5DD, U.K.
| | - Paul A. Clarke
- Department of Chemistry, University
of York, Heslington, York YO10 5DD, U.K.
| | - David K. Smith
- Department of Chemistry, University
of York, Heslington, York YO10 5DD, U.K.
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26
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Frenkel-Pinter M, Samanta M, Ashkenasy G, Leman LJ. Prebiotic Peptides: Molecular Hubs in the Origin of Life. Chem Rev 2020; 120:4707-4765. [PMID: 32101414 DOI: 10.1021/acs.chemrev.9b00664] [Citation(s) in RCA: 148] [Impact Index Per Article: 37.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Abstract
The fundamental roles that peptides and proteins play in today's biology makes it almost indisputable that peptides were key players in the origin of life. Insofar as it is appropriate to extrapolate back from extant biology to the prebiotic world, one must acknowledge the critical importance that interconnected molecular networks, likely with peptides as key components, would have played in life's origin. In this review, we summarize chemical processes involving peptides that could have contributed to early chemical evolution, with an emphasis on molecular interactions between peptides and other classes of organic molecules. We first summarize mechanisms by which amino acids and similar building blocks could have been produced and elaborated into proto-peptides. Next, non-covalent interactions of peptides with other peptides as well as with nucleic acids, lipids, carbohydrates, metal ions, and aromatic molecules are discussed in relation to the possible roles of such interactions in chemical evolution of structure and function. Finally, we describe research involving structural alternatives to peptides and covalent adducts between amino acids/peptides and other classes of molecules. We propose that ample future breakthroughs in origin-of-life chemistry will stem from investigations of interconnected chemical systems in which synergistic interactions between different classes of molecules emerge.
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Affiliation(s)
- Moran Frenkel-Pinter
- NSF/NASA Center for Chemical Evolution, https://centerforchemicalevolution.com/.,School of Chemistry & Biochemistry, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332, United States
| | - Mousumi Samanta
- Department of Chemistry, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva 84105, Israel
| | - Gonen Ashkenasy
- Department of Chemistry, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva 84105, Israel
| | - Luke J Leman
- NSF/NASA Center for Chemical Evolution, https://centerforchemicalevolution.com/.,Department of Chemistry, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, California 92037, United States
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27
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Zhao L, Liu B, Tan Q, Ding CH, Xu B. Silver-Assisted Oxidative Isocyanide Insertion of Ethers: A Direct Approach to β-Carbonyl α-Iminonitriles. Org Lett 2019; 21:9223-9227. [DOI: 10.1021/acs.orglett.9b03590] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Leiyang Zhao
- Department of Chemistry, Innovative Drug Research Center, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200444, China
| | - Bingxin Liu
- Department of Chemistry, Innovative Drug Research Center, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200444, China
| | - Qitao Tan
- Department of Chemistry, Innovative Drug Research Center, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200444, China
| | - Chang-Hua Ding
- Department of Chemistry, Innovative Drug Research Center, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200444, China
| | - Bin Xu
- Department of Chemistry, Innovative Drug Research Center, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200444, China
- State Key Laboratory of Organometallic Chemistry, Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200032, China
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28
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Das T, Ghule S, Vanka K. Insights Into the Origin of Life: Did It Begin from HCN and H 2O? ACS CENTRAL SCIENCE 2019; 5:1532-1540. [PMID: 31572780 PMCID: PMC6764159 DOI: 10.1021/acscentsci.9b00520] [Citation(s) in RCA: 40] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/28/2019] [Indexed: 05/14/2023]
Abstract
The seminal Urey-Miller experiments showed that molecules crucial to life such as HCN could have formed in the reducing atmosphere of the Hadean Earth and then dissolved in the oceans. Subsequent proponents of the "RNA World" hypothesis have shown aqueous HCN to be the starting point for the formation of the precursors of RNA and proteins. However, the conditions of early Earth suggest that aqueous HCN would have had to react under a significant number of constraints. Therefore, given the limiting conditions, could RNA and protein precursors still have formed from aqueous HCN? If so, what mechanistic routes would have been followed? The current computational study, with the aid of the ab initio nanoreactor (AINR), a powerful new tool in computational chemistry, addresses these crucial questions. Gratifyingly, not only do the results from the AINR approach show that aqueous HCN could indeed have been the source of RNA and protein precursors, but they also indicate that just the interaction of HCN with water would have sufficed to begin a series of reactions leading to the precursors. The current work therefore provides important missing links in the story of prebiotic chemistry and charts the road from aqueous HCN to the precursors of RNA and proteins.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tamal Das
- Physical and Materials Chemistry Division,
CSIR-National Chemical Laboratory (CSIR-NCL), Dr. Homi Bhabha
Road, Pashan, Pune 411008, India
- Academy of Scientific and Innovative
Research (AcSIR), Ghaziabad 201002, India
| | - Siddharth Ghule
- Physical and Materials Chemistry Division,
CSIR-National Chemical Laboratory (CSIR-NCL), Dr. Homi Bhabha
Road, Pashan, Pune 411008, India
- Academy of Scientific and Innovative
Research (AcSIR), Ghaziabad 201002, India
| | - Kumar Vanka
- Physical and Materials Chemistry Division,
CSIR-National Chemical Laboratory (CSIR-NCL), Dr. Homi Bhabha
Road, Pashan, Pune 411008, India
- Academy of Scientific and Innovative
Research (AcSIR), Ghaziabad 201002, India
- E-mail:
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29
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Xu J, Green NJ, Gibard C, Krishnamurthy R, Sutherland JD. Prebiotic phosphorylation of 2-thiouridine provides either nucleotides or DNA building blocks via photoreduction. Nat Chem 2019; 11:457-462. [PMID: 30936523 DOI: 10.1038/s41557-019-0225-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 45] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/28/2018] [Accepted: 01/25/2019] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
Breakthroughs in the study of the origin of life have demonstrated how some of the building blocks essential to biology could have been formed under various primordial scenarios, and could therefore have contributed to the chemical evolution of life. Missing building blocks are then sometimes inferred to be products of primitive biosynthesis, which can stretch the limits of plausibility. Here, we demonstrate the synthesis of 2'-deoxy-2-thiouridine, and subsequently 2'-deoxyadenosine and 2-deoxyribose, under prebiotic conditions. 2'-Deoxy-2-thiouridine is produced by photoreduction of 2,2'-anhydro-2-thiouridine, which is in turn formed by phosphorylation of 2-thiouridine-an intermediate of prebiotic RNA synthesis. 2'-Deoxy-2-thiouridine is an effective deoxyribosylating agent and may have functioned as such in either abiotic or proto-enzyme-catalysed pathways to DNA, as demonstrated by its conversion to 2'-deoxyadenosine by reaction with adenine, and 2-deoxyribose by hydrolysis. An alternative prebiotic phosphorylation of 2-thiouridine leads to the formation of its 5'-phosphate, showing that hypotheses in which 2-thiouridine was a key component of early RNA sequences are within the bounds of synthetic credibility.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jianfeng Xu
- MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge, UK
| | | | - Clémentine Gibard
- Department of Chemistry, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA, USA
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30
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Eckhardt AK, Bergantini A, Singh SK, Schreiner PR, Kaiser RI. Formation of Glyoxylic Acid in Interstellar Ices: A Key Entry Point for Prebiotic Chemistry. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl 2019; 58:5663-5667. [DOI: 10.1002/anie.201901059] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/25/2019] [Revised: 03/05/2019] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- André K. Eckhardt
- Institute of Organic ChemistryJustus Liebig University Giessen Heinrich-Buff-Ring 17 35392 Giessen Germany
| | - Alexandre Bergantini
- Department of ChemistryW. M. Keck Research Laboratory in AstrochemistryUniversity of Hawaii at Manoa 2545 McCarthy Mall Honolulu HI 96822 USA
| | - Santosh K. Singh
- Department of ChemistryW. M. Keck Research Laboratory in AstrochemistryUniversity of Hawaii at Manoa 2545 McCarthy Mall Honolulu HI 96822 USA
| | - Peter R. Schreiner
- Institute of Organic ChemistryJustus Liebig University Giessen Heinrich-Buff-Ring 17 35392 Giessen Germany
| | - Ralf I. Kaiser
- Department of ChemistryW. M. Keck Research Laboratory in AstrochemistryUniversity of Hawaii at Manoa 2545 McCarthy Mall Honolulu HI 96822 USA
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31
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Eckhardt AK, Bergantini A, Singh SK, Schreiner PR, Kaiser RI. Formation of Glyoxylic Acid in Interstellar Ices: A Key Entry Point for Prebiotic Chemistry. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl 2019. [DOI: 10.1002/ange.201901059] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- André K. Eckhardt
- Institute of Organic ChemistryJustus Liebig University Giessen Heinrich-Buff-Ring 17 35392 Giessen Germany
| | - Alexandre Bergantini
- Department of ChemistryW. M. Keck Research Laboratory in AstrochemistryUniversity of Hawaii at Manoa 2545 McCarthy Mall Honolulu HI 96822 USA
| | - Santosh K. Singh
- Department of ChemistryW. M. Keck Research Laboratory in AstrochemistryUniversity of Hawaii at Manoa 2545 McCarthy Mall Honolulu HI 96822 USA
| | - Peter R. Schreiner
- Institute of Organic ChemistryJustus Liebig University Giessen Heinrich-Buff-Ring 17 35392 Giessen Germany
| | - Ralf I. Kaiser
- Department of ChemistryW. M. Keck Research Laboratory in AstrochemistryUniversity of Hawaii at Manoa 2545 McCarthy Mall Honolulu HI 96822 USA
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32
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The Paleomineralogy of the Hadean Eon Revisited. Life (Basel) 2018; 8:life8040064. [PMID: 30562935 PMCID: PMC6315770 DOI: 10.3390/life8040064] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/31/2018] [Revised: 12/03/2018] [Accepted: 12/07/2018] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
A preliminary list of plausible near-surface minerals present during Earth’s Hadean Eon (>4.0 Ga) should be expanded to include: (1) phases that might have formed by precipitation of organic crystals prior to the rise of predation by cellular life; (2) minerals associated with large bolide impacts, especially through the generation of hydrothermal systems in circumferential fracture zones; and (3) local formation of minerals with relatively oxidized transition metals through abiological redox processes, such as photo-oxidation. Additional mineral diversity arises from the occurrence of some mineral species that form more than one ‘natural kind’, each with distinct chemical and morphological characteristics that arise by different paragenetic processes. Rare minerals, for example those containing essential B, Mo, or P, are not necessary for the origins of life. Rather, many common minerals incorporate those and other elements as trace and minor constituents. A rich variety of chemically reactive sites were thus available at the exposed surfaces of common Hadean rock-forming minerals.
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33
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Eckhardt AK, Wende RC, Schreiner PR. 1,3-Dioxolane-4-ol Hemiacetal Stores Formaldehyde and Glycolaldehyde in the Gas-Phase. J Am Chem Soc 2018; 140:12333-12336. [PMID: 30187747 DOI: 10.1021/jacs.8b07480] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
We report the spontaneous gas-phase formation of 1,3-dioxolane-4-ol, a mixed hemiacetal resulting from the addition of glycolaldehyde to formaldehyde. It was spectroscopically characterized by matching matrix IR spectra with coupled cluster computations. The formation of the hemiacetal must be surface-catalyzed owing to the very high computed reaction barrier of 39.8 kcal mol-1. The reaction barrier is lowered by almost 20 kcal mol-1 when a single water molecule acts as a proton shuttle in a favorable six-membered transition state. We characterized the hemiacetal in solution via NMR spectroscopy and followed its decomposition into its constituents within a few hours; it also dissociates upon contact with water. Sugars form in the presence of Ca(OH)2, in line with formose-type reactivity. 1,3-Dioxolane-4-ol may be considered a storage form for formaldehyde and glycolaldehyde that is rather stable in the gas-phase.
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Affiliation(s)
- André K Eckhardt
- Institute of Organic Chemistry , Justus Liebig University , Heinrich-Buff-Ring 17 , 35392 Giessen , Germany
| | - Raffael C Wende
- Institute of Organic Chemistry , Justus Liebig University , Heinrich-Buff-Ring 17 , 35392 Giessen , Germany
| | - Peter R Schreiner
- Institute of Organic Chemistry , Justus Liebig University , Heinrich-Buff-Ring 17 , 35392 Giessen , Germany
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34
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Yi R, Hongo Y, Yoda I, Adam ZR, Fahrenbach AC. Radiolytic Synthesis of Cyanogen Chloride, Cyanamide and Simple Sugar Precursors. ChemistrySelect 2018. [DOI: 10.1002/slct.201802242] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/11/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Ruiqin Yi
- Earth-Life Science Institute; Tokyo Institute of Technology 2-12-1-IE-1 Ookayama, Meguro-ku; Tokyo 152-8550 Japan
| | - Yayoi Hongo
- Earth-Life Science Institute; Tokyo Institute of Technology 2-12-1-IE-1 Ookayama, Meguro-ku; Tokyo 152-8550 Japan
| | - Isao Yoda
- Co-60 Radiation Facility; Tokyo Institute of Technology 2-12-1-IE-1 Ookayama, Meguro-ku; Tokyo 152-8550 Japan
| | - Zachary R. Adam
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences; Harvard University; Cambridge, MA USA
- Blue Marble Space Institute of Science; Seattle, WA USA
| | - Albert C. Fahrenbach
- Earth-Life Science Institute; Tokyo Institute of Technology 2-12-1-IE-1 Ookayama, Meguro-ku; Tokyo 152-8550 Japan
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35
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Gas-phase sugar formation using hydroxymethylene as the reactive formaldehyde isomer. Nat Chem 2018; 10:1141-1147. [DOI: 10.1038/s41557-018-0128-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/22/2017] [Accepted: 07/26/2018] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
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36
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Rimmer PB, Xu J, Thompson SJ, Gillen E, Sutherland JD, Queloz D. The origin of RNA precursors on exoplanets. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2018; 4:eaar3302. [PMID: 30083602 PMCID: PMC6070314 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aar3302] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/26/2017] [Accepted: 06/19/2018] [Indexed: 05/12/2023]
Abstract
Given that the macromolecular building blocks of life were likely produced photochemically in the presence of ultraviolet (UV) light, we identify some general constraints on which stars produce sufficient UV for this photochemistry. We estimate how much light is needed for the UV photochemistry by experimentally measuring the rate constant for the UV chemistry ("light chemistry", needed for prebiotic synthesis) versus the rate constants for the bimolecular reactions that happen in the absence of the UV light ("dark chemistry"). We make these measurements for representative photochemical reactions involving SO 3 2 - and HS-. By balancing the rates for the light and dark chemistry, we delineate the "abiogenesis zones" around stars of different stellar types based on whether their UV fluxes are sufficient for building up this macromolecular prebiotic inventory. We find that the SO 3 2 - light chemistry is rapid enough to build up the prebiotic inventory for stars hotter than K5 (4400 K). We show how the abiogenesis zone overlaps with the liquid water habitable zone. Stars cooler than K5 may also drive the formation of these building blocks if they are very active. The HS- light chemistry is too slow to work even for early Earth.
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Affiliation(s)
- Paul B. Rimmer
- Cavendish Astrophysics, University of Cambridge, JJ Thomson Avenue, Cambridge CB3 0HE, UK
- MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Francis Crick Avenue, Cambridge CB2 0QH, UK
| | - Jianfeng Xu
- MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Francis Crick Avenue, Cambridge CB2 0QH, UK
| | - Samantha J. Thompson
- Cavendish Astrophysics, University of Cambridge, JJ Thomson Avenue, Cambridge CB3 0HE, UK
| | - Ed Gillen
- Cavendish Astrophysics, University of Cambridge, JJ Thomson Avenue, Cambridge CB3 0HE, UK
| | - John D. Sutherland
- MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Francis Crick Avenue, Cambridge CB2 0QH, UK
| | - Didier Queloz
- Cavendish Astrophysics, University of Cambridge, JJ Thomson Avenue, Cambridge CB3 0HE, UK
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37
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Liu Z, Mariani A, Wu L, Ritson D, Folli A, Murphy D, Sutherland J. Tuning the reactivity of nitriles using Cu(ii) catalysis - potentially prebiotic activation of nucleotides. Chem Sci 2018; 9:7053-7057. [PMID: 30310625 PMCID: PMC6137443 DOI: 10.1039/c8sc02513d] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/07/2018] [Accepted: 07/23/2018] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
A synergistic system was established involving activating nucleotides with nitriles using Cu(ii) and protecting RNA degradation by byproducts of alpha-aminonitriles.
During the transition from prebiotic chemistry to biology, a period of solution-phase, non-enzymatic activation of (oligo)nucleotides must have occurred, and accordingly, a mechanism for phosphate activation must have existed. Herein, we detail results of an investigation into prebiotic phosphate activation chemistry using simple, prebiotically available nitriles whose reactivity is increased by Cu2+ ions. Furthermore, although Cu2+ ions are known to catalyse the hydrolysis of phosphodiester bonds, we found this deleterious activity to be almost completely suppressed by inclusion of amino acids or dipeptides, which may suggest a productive relationship between protein and RNA from the outset.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ziwei Liu
- MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology , Francis Crick Avenue, Cambridge Biomedical Campus , CB2 0QH , UK .
| | - Angelica Mariani
- MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology , Francis Crick Avenue, Cambridge Biomedical Campus , CB2 0QH , UK .
| | - Longfei Wu
- MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology , Francis Crick Avenue, Cambridge Biomedical Campus , CB2 0QH , UK .
| | - Dougal Ritson
- MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology , Francis Crick Avenue, Cambridge Biomedical Campus , CB2 0QH , UK .
| | - Andrea Folli
- School of Chemistry , Cardiff University , Park Place , Cardiff CF10 3AT , UK
| | - Damien Murphy
- School of Chemistry , Cardiff University , Park Place , Cardiff CF10 3AT , UK
| | - John Sutherland
- MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology , Francis Crick Avenue, Cambridge Biomedical Campus , CB2 0QH , UK .
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38
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Mariani A, Russell DA, Javelle T, Sutherland JD. A Light-Releasable Potentially Prebiotic Nucleotide Activating Agent. J Am Chem Soc 2018; 140:8657-8661. [PMID: 29965757 PMCID: PMC6152610 DOI: 10.1021/jacs.8b05189] [Citation(s) in RCA: 52] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/17/2018] [Indexed: 12/17/2022]
Abstract
Investigations into the chemical origin of life have recently benefitted from a holistic approach in which possible atmospheric, organic, and inorganic systems chemistries are taken into consideration. In this way, we now report that a selective phosphate activating agent, namely methyl isocyanide, could plausibly have been produced from simple prebiotic feedstocks. We show that methyl isocyanide drives the conversion of nucleoside monophosphates to phosphorimidazolides under potentially prebiotic conditions and in excellent yields for the first time. Importantly, this chemistry allows for repeated reactivation cycles, a property long sought in nonenzymatic oligomerization studies. Further, as the isocyanide is released upon irradiation, the possibility of spatially and temporally controlled activation chemistry is thus raised.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Thomas Javelle
- MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Francis Crick Avenue, Cambridge
Biomedical Campus, Cambridge CB2 0QH, U.K.
| | - John D. Sutherland
- MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Francis Crick Avenue, Cambridge
Biomedical Campus, Cambridge CB2 0QH, U.K.
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39
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Branscomb E, Russell MJ. Frankenstein or a Submarine Alkaline Vent: Who Is Responsible for Abiogenesis?: Part 1: What is life-that it might create itself? Bioessays 2018; 40:e1700179. [PMID: 29870581 DOI: 10.1002/bies.201700179] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/27/2017] [Revised: 04/16/2018] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
Origin of life models based on "energized assemblages of building blocks" are untenable in principle. This is fundamentally a consequence of the fact that any living system is in a physical state that is extremely far from equilibrium, a condition it must itself build and sustain. This in turn requires that it carries out all of its molecular transformations-obligatorily those that convert, and thereby create, disequilibria-using case-specific mechanochemical macromolecular machines. Mass-action solution chemistry is quite unable to do this. We argue in Part 2 of this series that this inherent dependence of life on disequilibria-converting macromolecular machines is also an obligatory requirement for life at its emergence. Therefore, life must have been launched by the operation of abiotic macromolecular machines driven by abiotic, but specifically "life-like", disequilibria, coopted from mineral precipitates that are chemically and physically active. Models grounded in "chemistry-in-a-bag" ideas, however energized, should not be considered.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elbert Branscomb
- Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology and Department of Physics, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL, 61801, USA
| | - Michael J Russell
- Planetary Chemistry and Astrobiology, Jet Propulsion Laboratory California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, 91109-8099, USA
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40
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Xu J, Ritson DJ, Ranjan S, Todd ZR, Sasselov DD, Sutherland JD. Photochemical reductive homologation of hydrogen cyanide using sulfite and ferrocyanide. Chem Commun (Camb) 2018; 54:5566-5569. [PMID: 29761807 PMCID: PMC5972737 DOI: 10.1039/c8cc01499j] [Citation(s) in RCA: 58] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Abstract
Photoredox cycling during UV irradiation of ferrocyanide ([FeII(CN)6]4-) in the presence of stoichiometric sulfite (SO32-) is shown to be an extremely effective way to drive the reductive homologation of hydrogen cyanide (HCN) to simple sugars and precursors of hydroxy acids and amino acids.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jianfeng Xu
- MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Francis Crick Avenue, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Cambridge, CB2 0QH, UK.
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41
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Ritson DJ, Battilocchio C, Ley SV, Sutherland JD. Mimicking the surface and prebiotic chemistry of early Earth using flow chemistry. Nat Commun 2018; 9:1821. [PMID: 29739945 PMCID: PMC5940729 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-04147-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 51] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/12/2018] [Accepted: 04/06/2018] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
When considering life's aetiology, the first questions that must be addressed are "how?" and "where?" were ostensibly complex molecules, considered necessary for life's beginning, constructed from simpler, more abundant feedstock molecules on primitive Earth. Previously, we have used multiple clues from the prebiotic synthetic requirements of (proto)biomolecules to pinpoint a set of closely related geochemical scenarios that are suggestive of flow and semi-batch chemistries. We now wish to report a multistep, uninterrupted synthesis of a key heterocycle (2-aminooxazole) en route to activated nucleotides starting from highly plausible, prebiotic feedstock molecules under conditions which mimic this scenario. Further consideration of the scenario has uncovered additional pertinent and novel aspects of prebiotic chemistry, which greatly enhance the efficiency and plausibility of the synthesis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dougal J Ritson
- MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Francis Crick Avenue, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Cambridge, CB2 0QH, UK.
| | - Claudio Battilocchio
- Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge, Lensfield Road, Cambridge, CB2 1EW, UK.,Syngenta Crop Protection, Process Research, Schaffhauserstrasse 101, CH-4332, Stein, Switzerland
| | - Steven V Ley
- Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge, Lensfield Road, Cambridge, CB2 1EW, UK
| | - John D Sutherland
- MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Francis Crick Avenue, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Cambridge, CB2 0QH, UK.
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42
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Eckhardt AK, Schreiner PR. Spectroscopic Evidence for Aminomethylene (H−C̈−NH2
)-The Simplest Amino Carbene. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl 2018. [DOI: 10.1002/ange.201800679] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- André K. Eckhardt
- Institute of Organic Chemistry; Justus-Liebig University Giessen; Heinrich-Buff-Ring 17 35392 Giessen Germany
| | - Peter R. Schreiner
- Institute of Organic Chemistry; Justus-Liebig University Giessen; Heinrich-Buff-Ring 17 35392 Giessen Germany
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43
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Eckhardt AK, Schreiner PR. Spectroscopic Evidence for Aminomethylene (H−C̈−NH2
)-The Simplest Amino Carbene. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl 2018; 57:5248-5252. [DOI: 10.1002/anie.201800679] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/17/2018] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- André K. Eckhardt
- Institute of Organic Chemistry; Justus-Liebig University Giessen; Heinrich-Buff-Ring 17 35392 Giessen Germany
| | - Peter R. Schreiner
- Institute of Organic Chemistry; Justus-Liebig University Giessen; Heinrich-Buff-Ring 17 35392 Giessen Germany
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44
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Todd ZR, Fahrenbach AC, Magnani CJ, Ranjan S, Björkbom A, Szostak JW, Sasselov DD. Solvated-electron production using cyanocuprates is compatible with the UV-environment on a Hadean–Archaean Earth. Chem Commun (Camb) 2018; 54:1121-1124. [PMID: 29334083 PMCID: PMC9631354 DOI: 10.1039/c7cc07748c] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
UV-driven photoredox processing of cyanocuprates can generate simple sugars necessary for prebiotic synthesis. We investigate the wavelength dependence of this process from 215 to 295 nm and generally observe faster rates at shorter wavelengths. The most efficient wavelengths are accessible to a range of potential prebiotic atmospheres, supporting the potential role of cyanocuprate photochemistry in prebiotic synthesis on the early Earth. Simple sugars necessary for the synthesis of prebiotic molecules can be generated from UV-driven cyanocuprate photoprocessing under conditions consistent with those expected on the surface of the early Earth.![]()
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Affiliation(s)
- Zoe R. Todd
- Department of Astronomy
- Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
- 60 Garden Street
- Cambridge
- USA
| | - Albert C. Fahrenbach
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute
- Department of Molecular Biology and Center for Computational and Integrative Biology
- Massachusetts General Hospital
- 185 Cambridge Street
- Boston
| | - Christopher J. Magnani
- Department of Astronomy
- Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
- 60 Garden Street
- Cambridge
- USA
| | - Sukrit Ranjan
- Department of Astronomy
- Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
- 60 Garden Street
- Cambridge
- USA
| | - Anders Björkbom
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute
- Department of Molecular Biology and Center for Computational and Integrative Biology
- Massachusetts General Hospital
- 185 Cambridge Street
- Boston
| | - Jack W. Szostak
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute
- Department of Molecular Biology and Center for Computational and Integrative Biology
- Massachusetts General Hospital
- 185 Cambridge Street
- Boston
| | - Dimitar D. Sasselov
- Department of Astronomy
- Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
- 60 Garden Street
- Cambridge
- USA
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45
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Szostak JW. The Origin of Life on Earth and the Design of Alternative Life Forms. MOLECULAR FRONTIERS JOURNAL 2017. [DOI: 10.1142/s2529732517400132] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
To understand the origin of life on Earth, and to evaluate the potential for life on exoplanets, we must understand the pathways that lead from chemistry to biology. Recent experiments suggest that a chemically rich environment that provides the building blocks of membranes, nucleic acids and peptides, along with sources of chemical energy, could result in the emergence of replicating, evolving cells. The broad scope of synthetic chemistry suggests that it may be possible to design and construct artificial life forms based upon a very different biochemistry than that of existing biology.
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46
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Prebiotic stereoselective synthesis of purine and noncanonical pyrimidine nucleotide from nucleobases and phosphorylated carbohydrates. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2017; 114:11315-11320. [PMID: 29073050 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1710778114] [Citation(s) in RCA: 71] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/02/2023] Open
Abstract
According to a current "RNA first" model for the origin of life, RNA emerged in some form on early Earth to become the first biopolymer to support Darwinism here. Threose nucleic acid (TNA) and other polyelectrolytes are also considered as the possible first Darwinian biopolymer(s). This model is being developed by research pursuing a "Discontinuous Synthesis Model" (DSM) for the formation of RNA and/or TNA from precursor molecules that might have been available on early Earth from prebiotic reactions, with the goal of making the model less discontinuous. In general, this is done by examining the reactivity of isolated products from proposed steps that generate those products, with increasing complexity of the reaction mixtures in the proposed mineralogical environments. Here, we report that adenine, diaminopurine, and hypoxanthine nucleoside phosphates and a noncanonical pyrimidine nucleoside (zebularine) phosphate can be formed from the direct coupling reaction of cyclic carbohydrate phosphates with the free nucleobases. The reaction is stereoselective, giving only the β-anomer of the nucleotides within detectable limits. For purines, the coupling is also regioselective, giving the N-9 nucleotide for adenine as a major product. In the DSM, phosphorylated carbohydrates are presumed to have been available via reactions explored previously [Krishnamurthy R, Guntha S, Eschenmoser A (2000) Angew Chem Int Ed 39:2281-2285], while nucleobases are presumed to have been available from hydrogen cyanide and other nitrogenous species formed in Earth's primitive atmosphere.
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47
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Frozen Accident Pushing 50: Stereochemistry, Expansion, and Chance in the Evolution of the Genetic Code. Life (Basel) 2017; 7:life7020022. [PMID: 28545255 PMCID: PMC5492144 DOI: 10.3390/life7020022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 41] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/10/2017] [Revised: 05/19/2017] [Accepted: 05/20/2017] [Indexed: 12/31/2022] Open
Abstract
Nearly 50 years ago, Francis Crick propounded the frozen accident scenario for the evolution of the genetic code along with the hypothesis that the early translation system consisted primarily of RNA. Under the frozen accident perspective, the code is universal among modern life forms because any change in codon assignment would be highly deleterious. The frozen accident can be considered the default theory of code evolution because it does not imply any specific interactions between amino acids and the cognate codons or anticodons, or any particular properties of the code. The subsequent 49 years of code studies have elucidated notable features of the standard code, such as high robustness to errors, but failed to develop a compelling explanation for codon assignments. In particular, stereochemical affinity between amino acids and the cognate codons or anticodons does not seem to account for the origin and evolution of the code. Here, I expand Crick’s hypothesis on RNA-only translation system by presenting evidence that this early translation already attained high fidelity that allowed protein evolution. I outline an experimentally testable scenario for the evolution of the code that combines a distinct version of the stereochemical hypothesis, in which amino acids are recognized via unique sites in the tertiary structure of proto-tRNAs, rather than by anticodons, expansion of the code via proto-tRNA duplication, and the frozen accident.
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48
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Stairs S, Nikmal A, Bučar DK, Zheng SL, Szostak JW, Powner MW. Divergent prebiotic synthesis of pyrimidine and 8-oxo-purine ribonucleotides. Nat Commun 2017; 8:15270. [PMID: 28524845 PMCID: PMC5454461 DOI: 10.1038/ncomms15270] [Citation(s) in RCA: 69] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/20/2016] [Accepted: 03/15/2017] [Indexed: 01/17/2023] Open
Abstract
Understanding prebiotic nucleotide synthesis is a long standing challenge thought to be essential to elucidating the origins of life on Earth. Recently, remarkable progress has been made, but to date all proposed syntheses account separately for the pyrimidine and purine ribonucleotides; no divergent synthesis from common precursors has been proposed. Moreover, the prebiotic syntheses of pyrimidine and purine nucleotides that have been demonstrated operate under mutually incompatible conditions. Here, we tackle this mutual incompatibility by recognizing that the 8-oxo-purines share an underlying generational parity with the pyrimidine nucleotides. We present a divergent synthesis of pyrimidine and 8-oxo-purine nucleotides starting from a common prebiotic precursor that yields the β-ribo-stereochemistry found in the sugar phosphate backbone of biological nucleic acids. The generational relationship between pyrimidine and 8-oxo-purine nucleotides suggests that 8-oxo-purine ribonucleotides may have played a key role in primordial nucleic acids prior to the emergence of the canonical nucleotides of biology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shaun Stairs
- Department of Chemistry, University College London, 20 Gordon Street, London WC1H 0AJ, UK
| | - Arif Nikmal
- Department of Chemistry, University College London, 20 Gordon Street, London WC1H 0AJ, UK
| | - Dejan-Krešimir Bučar
- Department of Chemistry, University College London, 20 Gordon Street, London WC1H 0AJ, UK
| | - Shao-Liang Zheng
- Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard University, 12 Oxford Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA
| | - Jack W Szostak
- Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard University, 12 Oxford Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA.,Department of Molecular Biology and Center for Computational and Integrative Biology, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Massachusetts General Hospital, 185 Cambridge Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02114, USA
| | - Matthew W Powner
- Department of Chemistry, University College London, 20 Gordon Street, London WC1H 0AJ, UK
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Lupas AN, Alva V. Ribosomal proteins as documents of the transition from unstructured (poly)peptides to folded proteins. J Struct Biol 2017; 198:74-81. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jsb.2017.04.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/02/2017] [Revised: 04/23/2017] [Accepted: 04/24/2017] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
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50
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Pross A, Pascal R. How and why kinetics, thermodynamics, and chemistry induce the logic of biological evolution. Beilstein J Org Chem 2017; 13:665-674. [PMID: 28487761 PMCID: PMC5389199 DOI: 10.3762/bjoc.13.66] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/29/2016] [Accepted: 03/20/2017] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Thermodynamic stability, as expressed by the Second Law, generally constitutes the driving force for chemical assembly processes. Yet, somehow, within the living world most self-organisation processes appear to challenge this fundamental rule. Even though the Second Law remains an inescapable constraint, under energy-fuelled, far-from-equilibrium conditions, populations of chemical systems capable of exponential growth can manifest another kind of stability, dynamic kinetic stability (DKS). It is this stability kind based on time/persistence, rather than on free energy, that offers a basis for understanding the evolutionary process. Furthermore, a threshold distance from equilibrium, leading to irreversibility in the reproduction cycle, is needed to switch the directive for evolution from thermodynamic to DKS. The present report develops these lines of thought and argues against the validity of a thermodynamic approach in which the maximisation of the rate of energy dissipation/entropy production is considered to direct the evolutionary process. More generally, our analysis reaffirms the predominant role of kinetics in the self-organisation of life, which, in turn, allows an assessment of semi-quantitative constraints on systems and environments from which life could evolve.
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Affiliation(s)
- Addy Pross
- Department of Chemistry, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Be’er Sheva 84105, Israel
- NYU Shanghai, 1555 Century Avenue, Pudong New Area, Shanghai, 200122, China
| | - Robert Pascal
- Institut des Biomolécules Max Mousseron, UMR5247 CNRS-University of Montpellier-ENSCM, CC17006, Place E. Bataillon, Montpellier F-34095, France
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