Peptide nucleic acid (PNA): A model structure for the primordial genetic material?

It is proposed that the primordial genetic material could have been peptide nucleic aicds,i.e., DNA analogues having a peptide backbone. PNA momomers based on the amino acid, α, γ-diaminobutyric acid or ornithine are suggested as compounds that could have been formed in the prebiotic soup. Finally, the possibility of a PNA/RNA world is presented, in which PNA constitutes the stable genetic material, while RNA which may be polymerized using the PNA as template accounts for enzymatic activities including PNA replication.

[1]  S. Bengtson.  Early life on earth , 1994 .

[2]  J. Oró,et al.  Synthesis of adenine from ammonium cyanide , 1960 .

[3]  H. Noller,et al.  Unusual resistance of peptidyl transferase to protein extraction procedures. , 1992, Science.

[4]  J. Ferris,et al.  Prebiotic synthesis: problems and challenges. , 1987, Cold Spring Harbor symposia on quantitative biology.

[5]  J. Wong.  Origin of genetically encoded protein synthesis: A model based on selection for RNA peptidation , 2005, Origins of life and evolution of the biosphere.

[6]  T. Cech.  The chemistry of self-splicing RNA and RNA enzymes. , 1987, Science.

[7]  M. Egholm,et al.  Modification of the binding affinity of peptide nucleic acids (PNA). PNA with extended backbones consisting of 2-aminoethyl-β-alanine or 3-aminopropylglycine units , 1993 .

[8]  S. Miller.  A production of amino acids under possible primitive earth conditions. , 1953, Science.

[9]  R. H. Berg,et al.  Recognition of guanine and adenine in DNA by cytosine and thymine containing peptide nucleic acids (PNA) , 1992 .

[10]  R. H. Berg,et al.  Peptide nucleic acids containing adenine or guanine recognize thymine and cytosine in complementary DNA sequences , 1993 .

[11]  M. Egholm,et al.  Sequence-selective recognition of DNA by strand displacement with a thymine-substituted polyamide. , 1991, Science.

[12]  Chemistry of potentially prebiological natural products , 1992 .

[13]  Peter E. Nielsen,et al.  Peptide nucleic acids (PNA) : oligonucleotide analogues with an achiral peptide backbone , 1992 .

[14]  T. Cech,et al.  A model for the RNA-catalyzed replication of RNA. , 1986, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[15]  L E Orgel,et al.  Evolution of the genetic apparatus: a review. , 1987, Cold Spring Harbor Symposia on Quantitative Biology.

[16]  N. Lahav,et al.  A possible role of fluctuating clay-water systems in the production of ordered prebiotic oligomers , 1980, Journal of Molecular Evolution.

[17]  M. Egholm,et al.  DNA unwinding upon strand-displacement binding of a thymine-substituted polyamide to double-stranded DNA. , 1993, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[18]  A W Schwartz,et al.  The case for an ancestral genetic system involving simple analogues of the nucleotides. , 1987, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[19]  S. Miller,et al.  Which organic compounds could have occurred on the prebiotic earth? , 1987, Cold Spring Harbor Symposia on Quantitative Biology.