Common origins of RNA, protein and lipid precursors in a cyanosulfidic protometabolism
Open accessAbstract
A minimal cell can be thought of as comprising informational, compartment-forming and metabolic subsystems. To imagine the abiotic assembly of such an overall system, however, places great demands on hypothetical prebiotic chemistry. The perceived differences and incompatibilities between these subsystems have led to the widely held assumption that one or other subsystem must have preceded the others. Here we experimentally investigate the validity of this assumption by examining the assembly of various biomolecular building blocks from prebiotically plausible intermediates and one-carbon feedstock molecules. We show that precursors of ribonucleotides, amino acids and lipids can all be derived by the reductive homologation of hydrogen cyanide and some of its derivatives, and thus that all the cellular subsystems could have arisen simultaneously through common chemistry. The key reaction steps are driven by ultraviolet light, use hydrogen sulfide as the reductant and can be accelerated by Cu(I)-Cu(II) photoredox cycling.
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The cyanosulfidic scenario relies on formaldehyde and HCN to produce glyconitrile, plus schreibersite, hydrosulfide, copper and UV light to promote homologation to higher cyanohydrins.
“This scenario relies on two main monomers, formaldehyde and HCN, to produce glyconitrile, plus the action of schreibersite ((Fe, Ni) 3P), hydrosulfide (HS−) as reducing agent, copper and ultraviolet light, to promote the homologation to higher cyanohydrins”
From The protometabolic nature of prebiotic chemistry (2023) · cites this paper as [20]
In Results and discussion, ‘Towards a geochemical scenario’ (page unavailable), the paper identifies hydrosulfide as a reductant and describes copper-assisted photoreduction; it also describes cyanide as a feedstock for homologation. But it presents schreibersite as a proposed source of phosphate, not an agent promoting homologation. Our copy does not describe formaldehyde and HCN producing glyconitrile as the two-monomer basis of this scenario. (LLM, conf=0.87)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredRecent experiments from Sutherland's group lead to synthesis of activated nucleotides and a range of amino acids with moderately high yields from plausible prebiotic precursors in a plausible prebiotic environment.
“the recent experiments from Sutherland’s group lead to a description of the synthesis of activated nucleotides and a range of amino acids with moderately high yields from plausible prebiotic precursors in a plausible prebiotic environment”
From Natural pH Gradients in Hydrothermal Alkali Vents Were Unlikely to Have Played a Role in the Origin of Life (2016) · cites this paper as Patel et al. 2015
The Abstract describes an efficient synthesis of activated pyrimidine ribonucleotides, and Results and discussion says the network’s individual steps have good to excellent yields. But the paper reports synthesizing α-aminonitrile precursors of a range of amino acids, not the amino acids themselves. It also outlines a plausible geochemical scenario rather than showing that the full network operated in one environment. (LLM, conf=0.87)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredUnder plausible prebiotic conditions, nitrogenous (nucleobases) and oxygenous (sugars) chemistries could simultaneously develop.
“John Sutherland and co-workers (Patel et al., 2015) reported lately that under plausible prebiotic conditions, nitrogenous (nucleobases) and oxygenous (sugars) chemistries could simultaneously develop.”
From The Origin and Early Evolution of Life: Homochirality Emergence in Prebiotic Environments (2023) · cites this paper as Patel et al., 2015
The paper describes prebiotically plausible routes to sugars and pyrimidine ribonucleotides within a common reaction network. Its Conclusions say the products could arise in separate streams and pools over time, not that nucleobases and sugars were independently produced simultaneously; the claim overstates that specificity. (LLM, conf=0.85)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredSutherland and co-workers obtained a prebiotic mixture containing two pyrimidine ribonucleotides, the aminonitrile precursors of 12 amino acids, glycerolphosphate, and remarkably almost nothing else.
“They were able to obtain a prebiotic mixture containing two pyrimidine ribonucleotides, the aminonitrile precursors of 12 amino acids, glycerolphosphate (GP, a precursor of phospholipids), and remarkably almost nothing else.”
From The Origin and Early Evolution of Life: Homochirality Emergence in Prebiotic Environments (2023) · cites this paper as Patel et al., 2015
The Abstract and Results and discussion describe two pyrimidine ribonucleotides, glycerol phosphate, and routes to aminonitrile precursors of twelve amino acids. But the Comparison with other ‘prebiotic’ syntheses section says the whole network would be difficult to run in one pot, and the Conclusions envision products from separate streams eventually mixing in pools. The paper does not report obtaining the specified mixture with ‘almost nothing else.’ Page numbers are unavailable in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.90)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredSeveral important classes of biomolecules, such as plausible prebiotic amino acids precursors, 2',3'-cyclic pyrimidine nucleotides, and glycerol phosphate, may have hydrogen cyanide and formaldehyde as common chemical precursors in the cyanosulfidic pathway.
“They have shown that several important classes of biomolecules, such as plausible prebiotic amino acids precursors (Piotto et al., 2019), 2',3'-cyclic pyrimidine nucleotides, and glycerol phosphate, may have hydrogen cyanide ( 1 ) and formaldehyde as common chemical precursors in the aforementioned 'cyanosulfidic' pathway.”
From The Origin and Early Evolution of Life: Homochirality Emergence in Prebiotic Environments (2023) · cites this paper as Patel et al., 2015
The Abstract and Results and discussion describe routes from hydrogen cyanide to amino-acid precursors, 2′,3′-cyclic pyrimidine nucleotides, and glycerol phosphate. But the Conclusions identify hydrogen cyanide as the carbon and nitrogen source for the cyanosulfidic network; the Comparison with other ‘prebiotic’ syntheses mentions formaldehyde only as a feedstock for the separate formose reaction. The paper does not support formaldehyde as a common precursor in its cyanosulfidic pathway. (LLM, conf=0.89)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
The merging of HCN chemistry with that of aldehydes could have facilitated the establishment of autocatalytic cycles, allowing to navigate a wide chemical space comprised by the most preeminent 2-5 carbon-atoms prebiotic compounds.
“All the above suggests that the merging of HCN chemistry with that of aldehydes (the presence of which is ensured by the copper-catalyzed photochemical reductions of nitriles, which was later demonstrated by Sutherland)20,100 could have facilitated the establishment of autocatalytic cycles, allowing to navigate a wide chemical space comprised by the most preeminent 2–5 carbon-atoms prebiotic compo”
From The protometabolic nature of prebiotic chemistry (2023) · cites this paper as [20]
Precipitation of ferrocyanide salts could generate a concentrated reservoir of starting materials that can be liberated by geothermal activity.
“In addition to the selective crystallization processes described above, it has been proposed that precipitation of ferrocyanide salts could generate a concentrated reservoir of starting materials that can be liberated by geothermal activity (Patel et al. 2015).”
From Protocells and RNA Self-Replication (2018) · cites this paper as Patel et al. 2015
Plausible prebiotic precursors of phospholipids are glyceraldehyde, dihydroxyacetone and glycerol together with their phosphate derivatives such as glycerophosphate.
“Plausible prebiotic precursors of phospholipids are glyceraldehyde, dihydroxyacetone and glycerol together with their phosphate derivatives such as glycerophosphate (Figure 9). (Bizzarri et al., 2021; Patel et al., 2015)”
From The Origin and Early Evolution of Life: Homochirality Emergence in Prebiotic Environments (2023) · cites this paper as Patel et al., 2015
GCA undergoes the Strecker reaction in excellent yield to afford a stable aminonitrile product, Ser-CN.
“This is in stark contrast to GCA, which undergoes the Strecker reaction in excellent yield to afford a stable aminonitrile product, Ser-CN (fig. S2) (23, 24).”
From Prebiotic synthesis of cysteine peptides that catalyze peptide ligation in neutral water (2020) · cites this paper as [24]
The Results and discussion passage on refinement of the geochemical scenario describes glycolaldehyde being homologated to glyceraldehyde via a cyanohydrin. It does not address a Strecker reaction of GCA yielding stable Ser-CN, or report an excellent yield. Searches for Ser-CN, serine, and glycolaldehyde with Strecker terms found no results passage establishing those details. (LLM, conf=0.73)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredRecent hydrogen cyanide photochemistry experiments yield precursors of ribonucleotides and amino acids, primarily Gly, Ala, Ser, and Thr.
“Notably, the recent, perhaps most promising at this time prebiotic chemistry experiments, based on hydrogen cyanide photochemistry, that yield precursors of ribonucleotides and amino acids, also primarily produce amino acids from the above list, namely, Gly, Ala, Ser, and Thr [73,74].”
From Frozen Accident Pushing 50: Stereochemistry, Expansion, and Chance in the Evolution of the Genetic Code (2017) · cites this paper as [74]
The other major class of scenarios centers on wet-dry terrestrial geothermal venues, especially at their edges where wet-dry prebiotic syntheses can occur, and one of their primary motivations is the observation that phosphorylation reactions are thermodynamically unfavorable in solution.
“The other major class of scenarios center on the wet–dry terrestrial geothermal venues [20,21,22], especially at their edges [21] where wet–dry prebiotic syntheses can occur [47]. One of the primary motivations for these scenarios is the observation that phosphorylation reactions are thermodynamically unfavorable in solution [22,90,96,97].”
From ‘Whole Organism’, Systems Biology, and Top-Down Criteria for Evaluating Scenarios for the Origin of Life (2021) · cites this paper as [47]
The same experimental conditions that create pyrimidine nucleotide precursors also create precursors for some amino acids and lipids.
“the same experimental conditions also create precursors for some amino acids and lipids [17]”
From The RNA world as a model system to study the origin of life (2015) · cites this paper as [17]
Further thermal processing of ferrocyanide salts may have led to the availability of cyanide and cyanamide when exposed to water.
“Further thermal processing of these salts may have led subsequently to the availability of the necessary organic precursors, for example, cyanide and cyanamide, when exposed to water.”
From Prebiotic Reaction Networks in Water (2020) · cites this paper as [112]
Sutherland and co-workers demonstrated the synthesis of additional amino acids and phospholipid precursors using Kiliani-Fischer, H2S addition to nitriles, UV-photoreductions and copper-catalysed cross coupling.
“In 2015, Sutherland and co-workers [112] built upon this work by demonstrating the synthesis of additional amino acids and phospholipid precursors by employing a set of common mechanisms, including Kiliani-Fischer, H2S addition to nitriles, UV-photoreductions as well as copper-catalysed cross coupling.”
From Prebiotic Reaction Networks in Water (2020) · cites this paper as [112]
HCN produced by meteorite impact could have been sequestered by coordination with ferrous iron yielding ferrocyanide salts.
“The HCN produced by meteorite impact could have been then sequestered by coordination with ferrous iron yielding ferrocyanide salts.”
From Prebiotic Reaction Networks in Water (2020) · cites this paper as [112]
The authors proposed a cyanosulfidic geochemical scenario based upon meteorite impact capable of affording a chemical network for the Powner-Sutherland pathway.
“The authors proposed [112] a cyanosulfidic geochemical scenario (Figure 6B) based upon meteorite impact capable of affording, in particular, a chemical network for the Powner-Sutherland pathway.”
From Prebiotic Reaction Networks in Water (2020) · cites this paper as [112]
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“Notably, the recent, perhaps most promising at this time prebiotic chemistry experiments, based on hydrogen cyanide photochemistry, that yield precursors of ribonucleotides and amino acids, also primarily produce amino acids from the above list, namely, Gly, Ala, Ser, and Thr [73,74].”
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“Ultraviolet light has been championed by John Sutherland (1962–) and others [30,37], given that it can be used to energize the synthesis of a number of important precursor biochemicals including purines and pyrimidines [29,31,32,78].”
Background
- Authors
- Patel, B. H., Percivalle, C., Ritson, D. J., Duffy, C. D., & Sutherland, J. D.
- Affiliations
- MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Sutherland, John D.
- Venue
- Nature Chemistry
- Published
- 2015-03-16
- Volume
- 7
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 301-307
- ISSN
- 1755-4330 (ISSN-L)
- 1755-4349
- PMC
- PMC4568310
- OpenAlex
- W2062019095
- Cited by
- 949
- References
- 37
- Citations by year
- 2026: 72 · 2025: 81 · 2024: 74 · 2023: 97 · 2022: 81 · 2021: 105 · 2020: 94 · 2019: 74 · 2018: 103 · 2017: 84 · 2016: 50 · 2015: 33
- FWCI
- 51.20
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Licence
- www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
- Locations
- Nature Chemistry (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- Medical Research Council
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Origins and Evolution of Life
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › RNA and protein synthesis mechanisms
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Space Science and Extraterrestrial Life
- Keywords
- origin of life, prebiotic chemistry, minimal cell, hydrogen cyanide, amino acid precursors, lipid precursors, hydrogen sulfide, ultraviolet radiation, photoredox catalysis, one-carbon feedstocks
- MeSH terms
- Cyanides, Lipids, Proteins, RNA, Sulfites
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