Primitive selection of the fittest emerging through functional synergy in nucleopeptide networks
Open accessAbstract
Significance: Research on the chemical origin of life comprises one of the most exciting topics in contemporary science. Prebiotic chemistry provided evidence that precursors of both nucleic acids and proteins might be formed in the prebiotic environment. Yet, studies on nonenzymatic replication—a central mechanism driving chemical evolution—focused largely on each class of these molecules separately. This paper reveals a successful attempt to replicate simple nucleopeptide chimeras. Most importantly, different mechanisms control the replication of complementary chimeras, leading to a clear selection of one over the other. We propose that related processes may have led to the emergence of the first functional nucleic-acid–peptide assemblies, which further developed into biological assemblies such as the ribosomes and viruses.
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- Authors
- Bandela, A. K., Wagner, N., Sadihov, H., Morales-Reina, S., Chotera-Ouda, A., Basu, K., Cohen-Luria, R., de la Escosura, A., & Ashkenasy, G.
- Affiliations
- Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (IL)
- Department of Organic Chemistry, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Campus de Cantoblanco, 28049 Madrid, Spain;
- Department of Chemistry, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, 84105 Beer-Sheva, Israel;
- Corresponding author
- Ashkenasy, Gonen
- Venue
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
- Publisher
- National Academy of Sciences
- Published
- 2021-02-23
- Volume
- 118
- Issue
- 9
- ISSN
- 0027-8424 (ISSN-L)
- 1091-6490
- PMC
- PMC7936268
- OpenAlex
- W3131086779
- Semantic Scholar
- 71c4a22f622597626db3dc6aa429c0087a656a30
- Cited by
- 49
- References
- 73
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 10 · 2024: 9 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 14 · 2021: 6
- FWCI
- 4.84
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Biblos-e Archivo (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid) (submittedVersion, public-domain)
- Hispana (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- NSF-BSF (2019745)
- H2020 FET-Open (862081)
- 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
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Evolution and Genetic Dynamics
- Keywords
- autocatalysis, cross-catalysis, prebiotic chemistry, origin of life, functional synergy, peptide assembly, far-from-equilibrium dynamics, information transmission, chemical evolution
- MeSH terms
- Catalysis, Nucleic Acids, Peptides, Macromolecular Substances, Chemical Phenomena
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