Summary
An important issue in the problem of the origins of life is whether or not nucleic acids may exert catalytic activities. In order to study the possible role of the adenine ring in catalysis, we have synthesized polymers containing aliphatic amino groups and the nucleic base adenine linked to macromolecules by its 6-amino group. These polymers exhibit pronounced catalytic activities in the hydrolysis of p-nitrophenylacetate. In mild basic conditions, the strong increase in the activities observed can be related to a cooperative effect between the amino groups and the adenine rings of the polymers. These properties and our previous results on the catalytic activity of N6-ribosyl-adenine are consistent with a possible role for the adenine ring in prebiotic catalysis.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Bender ML, Kezdy FJ, Wedler FC (1967) α-chymotrypsin: enzyme concentration and kinetics. J Chem Ed 44:84–88
Büllow L, Mosbach K (1987) The expression in Escherichia coli of a polymeric gene coding for an esterase mimic catalyzing the hydrolysis of p-nitrophenyl esters. FEBS Lett 210:147–152
Cech TR (1987) The chemistry of self-splicing RNA and RNA enzymes. Science 236:1532–1539
Décout JL, Huart G, Lhomme J (1988) Interactions and photoreactivity of 5-alkoxypsoralens with thymine. A model approach. Photochem Photobiol 48:583–596
Fuller WD, Sanchez RA, Orgel LE (1972) Studies in prebiotic synthesis VI. Synthesis of purine nucleosides. J Mol Biol 67: 25–33
Joyce GF, Schwartz AW, Miller SL, Orgel LE (1987) The case for an ancestral genetic system involving simple analogues of the nucleotides. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 84:4398–4402
Kapoor A (1972) In: Lande S (ed) Progress in peptide research, vol 2. Gordon and Breach, New York, pp 335–341
Koizumi M, Iwai S, Ohtsuka E (1988) Cleavage of specific sites of RNA designed ribozymes. FEBS Lett 239:285–288
Maurel MC (1992) RNA in evolution: a review. J Evol Biol 2: 1–16
Maurel MC, Convert O (1990) Chemical structure of a prebiotic analog of adenosine. Origins Life 20:43–48
Maurel MC, Ninio J (1987) Catalysis by a prebiotic nucleotide analog of histidine. Biochimie 69:551–553
Orgel LE (1987) Evolution of the genetic apparatus: a review. Cold Spring Harbor Symp Quant Biol 52:9–16
Saenger W (1984) In: Carter CR (ed) Principles of nucleic acid structure. Springer-Verlag, New York, pp 105–109
Seo T, Kajihara T, Iijima T (1987) The synthesis of poly(allylamine) containing covalently bound cyclodextrin and its catalytic effect in the hydrolysis of phenyl esters. Makromol Chem 188:2071–2082
Seo T, Take S, Miwa K, Hamada K, Iijima T (1991) Self-organisation of poly(allylamine)s containing hydrophobic groups and its effect on the interaction with small molecules. Macromolecules 24:4255–4263
Spach G (1984) Chiral versus chemical evolutions and the appearance of life. Origins Life 14:433–437
Uhlenbeck OC (1987) A small catalytic oligoribonucleotide. Nature 328:596
Venkstern TV, Baev AA (1965) Absorption spectra of minor bases, their nucleosides, nucleotides and selected oligoribonucleotides. Plenum, New York
Wächtershäuser G (1988) An all-purine precursor of nucleic acids. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 85:1134–1135
Wilkinson GN (1961) Statistical estimation in enzyme kinetics. Biochem J 80:324–332
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
Ofprint requests to: M.C. Maurel
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Maurel, MC., Décout, JL. Studies of nucleic acid-like polymers as catalysts. J Mol Evol 35, 190–195 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00178594
Received:
Revised:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00178594