Montmorillonite-catalysed formation of RNA oligomers: the possible role of catalysis in the origins of life
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Large deposits of montmorillonite are present on the Earth today and it is believed to have been present at the time of the origin of life and has recently been detected on Mars. It is formed by aqueous weathering of volcanic ash. It catalyses the formation of oligomers of RNA that contain monomer units from 2 to 30-50. Oligomers of this length are formed because this catalyst controls the structure of the oligomers formed and does not generate all possible isomers. Evidence of sequence-, regio- and homochiral selectivity in these oligomers has been obtained. Postulates on the role of selective versus specific catalysts on the origins of life are discussed. An introduction to the origin of life is given with an emphasis on reaction conditions based on the recent data obtained from zircons 4.0-4.5Ga.
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In aqueous solutions, condensation reactions leading to polymer synthesis require chemically activated monomers.
“in aqueous solutions condensation reactions leading to polymer synthesis would require chemically activated monomers such as the nucleoside triphosphates that drive biological metabolism or the imidazole esters of mononucleotides used in the laboratory (Inoue and Orgel, 1982; Ferris, 2006).”
From The Hot Spring Hypothesis for an Origin of Life (2020) · cites this paper as Ferris, 2006
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- Authors
- Ferris, J. P.
- Affiliations
- Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (US)
- Corresponding author
- Ferris, James P
- Venue
- Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
- Publisher
- The Royal Society
- Published
- 2006-09-07
- Volume
- 361
- Issue
- 1474
- Pages
- 1777-1786
- ISSN
- 0962-8436 (ISSN-L)
- 1471-2970
- PMC
- PMC1664692
- OpenAlex
- W2100598610
- Cited by
- 253
- References
- 81
- Citations by year
- 2026: 18 · 2025: 13 · 2024: 13 · 2023: 13 · 2022: 12 · 2021: 16 · 2020: 14 · 2019: 29 · 2018: 9 · 2017: 11 · 2016: 9 · 2015: 12 · 2014: 10 · 2013: 12 · 2012: 13
- FWCI
- 4.22
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- 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
- montmorillonite, origin of life, clay catalysis, prebiotic chemistry, homochirality, sequence selectivity, regioselectivity, zircon, early Earth conditions, Mars
- MeSH terms
- Origin of Life, Amino Acids, Bentonite, Catalysis, Biological Evolution, Pyrimidines, RNA, Molecular Structure, Evolution, Chemical
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