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Stereoselective aminoacylation of RNAPrebiotic chemistry is faced with a major problem: how could a controlled and selective reaction occur, when there is present in the same solution a large number of alternative possible coreactants? This problem is solved in the modern cell by the presence of enzymes, which are not only highly efficient and controllable catalysts, but which also can impose on their substrates a precise structural requirement. However, enzymes are the result of billions of years of evolution, and we cannot invoke them as prebiotic catalysts. One approach to solving this problem in the prebiotic context is to make use of template-directed reactions. These reactions increase the number of structural requirements that must be simultaneously present in a molecule for it to be able to react, and thereby increase the selectivity of the reaction. They also can give a large increase in the rate of a reaction, if the template constrains two potential coreactants to lie close together. A third benefit is that information that is present in the template molecule can be passed on to the product molecules. If the earliest organisms were based on proteins and nucleic acids, then the investigation of peptide synthesis on an oligonucleotide template is highly relevant to the study of the origin of life.
Document ID
19860017403
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Usher, D. A.
(Cornell Univ. Ithaca, NY, United States)
Needels, M. C.
(Cornell Univ. Ithaca, NY, United States)
Brenner, T.
(Cornell Univ. Ithaca, NY, United States)
Date Acquired
August 12, 2013
Publication Date
May 1, 1986
Publication Information
Publication: NASA, Washington Symposium on Chemical Evolution and the Origin and Evolution of Life
Subject Category
Space Biology
Accession Number
86N26875
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.
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