The case for an ancestral genetic system involving simple analogues of the nucleotides.
Open accessAbstract
The idea that the first living systems on earth were based on self-replicating RNA molecules has recently become popular as a result of the discovery of ribozymes. However, there are several major problems associated with the prebiotic synthesis of ribonucleotides. In addition, there is the newly recognized problem of enantiomeric cross-inhibition, whereby template-directed polymerization involving one enantiomer of RNA is inhibited strongly by the presence of the other enantiomer. Here we propose that RNA was preceded in the evolution of life by a polymer constructed from flexible, acyclic, probably prochiral nucleotide analogues that were synthesized readily on the primitive earth. Several potentially prebiotic nucleotide analogues are considered in this context, and some of the consequences of this proposal are discussed.
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- Authors
- Joyce, G. F., Schwartz, A. W., Miller, S. L., & Orgel, L. E.
- Affiliations
- Salk Institute for Biological Studies (US)
- Radboud University Nijmegen (NL)
- ORCID
- Joyce, G F
- Venue
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
- Publisher
- National Academy of Sciences
- Published
- 1987-07
- Volume
- 84
- Issue
- 13
- Pages
- 4398-4402
- ISSN
- 0027-8424 (ISSN-L)
- 1091-6490
- PMC
- PMC305096
- OpenAlex
- W2050696280
- Cited by
- 387
- References
- 3
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 12 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 9 · 2022: 12 · 2021: 8 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 12 · 2018: 9 · 2017: 7 · 2016: 12 · 2015: 14 · 2014: 8 · 2013: 15 · 2012: 19
- FWCI
- 27.84
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- Life Sciences Research Foundation
- 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
- origin of life, prebiotic chemistry, nucleotide analogues, RNA precursors, ribozymes, template polymerization
- MeSH terms
- Models, Genetic, Nucleic Acid Conformation, Nucleotides, RNA, Stereoisomerism
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