Summary
Bis-phosphoimidazolides of an analogue of adenosine (in which ribose is replaced by an acyclic chain) and of two related analogues of guanosine undergo oligomerization in the presence of complementary polynucleotide templates. Data on the template- and nontemplate-directed reactions are presented, and the possible relevance to origins of life is discussed.
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Abbreviations
- Ad:
-
adenine
- Gu:
-
guanine
- EDAC:
-
1-ethyl-3-(3-dimethylaminopropyl)carbodiimide hydrochloride
- G:
-
9-[(1,3-dihydroxy-2-propoxy)methyl]guanine
- Ã:
-
9-[(1,3-dihydroxy-2-propoxy)methyl]adenosine
- G:
-
(R)-9-[1-(1-hydroxy-2-propoxy)-2-hydroxyethyl]guanine
- dG:
-
2′-deoxyguanosine
- dA:
-
2′-deoxyadenosine; (3′)dA, 3′-deoxyadenosine
- KEDTA:
-
the potassium salt of ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid
- TEAB:
-
triethyl ammonium bicarbonate
- poly (C):
-
polycytidylic acid
- poly(U):
-
polyuridylic acid
- N:
-
G, A, G, dG, dA, or (3′)dA
- pNp:
-
the bisphosphate of N
- ImpNpIm:
-
the bis-phosphoimidazolide of N
References
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Joyce CF, 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
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Schwartz AW, Visscher J, Bakker CG, Niessen J (1987) Nucleic acid-like structures II. Polynucleotide analogues as possible primitive precursors of nucleic acids. Origins of Life 17:351–357
Visscher J, Schwartz AW (1988) Nucleic acid-like structures. III. Oligomerization of 3′-deoxyadenosine-2′,5′-diphosphate. J Mol Evol 26:291–293
Zielinski WS, Orgel LE (1985) Oligomerization of activated derivatives of 3′-amino-3′-deoxyguanosine on poly(C) and poly(dC) templates. Nucleic Acids Res 13:2469–2484
Zielinski WS, Orgel LE (1987) Oligoaminonucleoside phosphoramidates. Oligomerization of dimers of 3′-amino-3′-deoxynucleotides (GC and CG) in aqueous solution. Nucleic Acids Res 15:1699–1715
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Nucleic Acid-Like Structures IV. For the previous paper in this series see Visscher and Schwartz (1988)
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Visscher, J., Schwartz, A.W. Template-directed synthesis of acyclic oligonucleotide analogues. J Mol Evol 28, 3–6 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02143492
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02143492