TY - JOUR
T1 - Spontaneous Oligomerization of Nucleotide Alternatives in Aqueous Solutions
AU - Smith, Karen E.
AU - House, Christopher H.
AU - Dworkin, Jason P.
AU - Callahan, Michael P.
PY - 2017/3/1
Y1 - 2017/3/1
N2 - On early Earth, a primitive polymer that could spontaneously form from likely available precursors may have preceded both RNA and DNA as the first genetic material. Here, we report that heated aqueous solutions containing 5-hydroxymethyluracil (HMU) result in oligomers of uracil, heated solutions containing 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (HMC) result in oligomers of cytosine, and heated solutions containing both HMU and HMC result in mixed oligomers of uracil and cytosine. Oligomerization of hydroxymethylated pyrimidines, which may have been abundant on the primitive Earth, might have been important in the development of simple informational polymers.
AB - On early Earth, a primitive polymer that could spontaneously form from likely available precursors may have preceded both RNA and DNA as the first genetic material. Here, we report that heated aqueous solutions containing 5-hydroxymethyluracil (HMU) result in oligomers of uracil, heated solutions containing 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (HMC) result in oligomers of cytosine, and heated solutions containing both HMU and HMC result in mixed oligomers of uracil and cytosine. Oligomerization of hydroxymethylated pyrimidines, which may have been abundant on the primitive Earth, might have been important in the development of simple informational polymers.
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U2 - 10.1007/s11084-016-9484-3
DO - 10.1007/s11084-016-9484-3
M3 - Article
C2 - 27029792
AN - SCOPUS:84962265024
VL - 47
SP - 3
EP - 11
JO - Origins of Life and Evolution of Biospheres
JF - Origins of Life and Evolution of Biospheres
SN - 0169-6149
IS - 1
ER -