2023-11-16 ニューサウスウェールズ大学(UNSW)
◆この新しい手法は、単純な反応物から迅速に複雑な混合物に進化する自己触媒反応と呼ばれる反応のタイプを操作して、RNAの生成に必要な成分の一部を生成できることを見つけました。RNAは、地球の初期生命の文脈で重要であり、自然の地球化学を通じて生命の起源につながったと考えられています。
◆研究者は、生物学が複雑なプロセスを含み、特に自己触媒反応が関与することを指摘し、この研究の成果は地球での生命の始まりの理解に加えて、商業的および医学的に重要な分子を合成する新しい方法の探求を招く可能性があります。
<関連情報>
- https://newsroom.unsw.edu.au/news/science-tech/scientists-mimic-chemical-reaction-linked-emergence-life-earth
- https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2023/SC/D3SC03185C
前生物学的化学反応へ – 自己触媒的フォルモース反応によるヌクレオチド前駆体合成 Towards a prebiotic chemoton – nucleotide precursor synthesis driven by the autocatalytic formose reaction
Quoc Phuong Tran,Ruiqin Yi and Albert C. Fahrenbach
Chemical Science Published:29 Aug 2023
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1039/D3SC03185C
Abstract
The formose reaction is often cited as a prebiotic source of sugars and remains one of the most plausible forms of autocatalysis on the early Earth. Herein, we investigated how cyanamide and 2-aminooxazole, molecules proposed to be present on early Earth and precursors for nonenzymatic ribonucleotide synthesis, mediate the formose reaction using HPLC, LC-MS and 1H NMR spectroscopy. Cyanamide was shown to delay the exponential phase of the formose reaction by reacting with formose sugars to form 2-aminooxazole and 2-aminooxazolines thereby diverting some of these sugars from the autocatalytic cycle, which nonetheless remains intact. Masses for tetrose and pentose aminooxazolines, precursors for nucleotide synthesis including TNA and RNA, were also observed. The results of this work in the context of the chemoton model are further discussed. Additionally, we highlight other prebiotically plausible molecules that could have mediated the formose reaction and alternative prebiotic autocatalytic systems.
