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Nucleic acid-like structures. II - Polynucleotide analogues as possible primitive precursors of nucleic acidsActivated derivatives of purine-containing deoxynucleoside- diphosphates spontaneously oligomerize to produce pyrophosphate- linked oligodeoxynucleotide analogs. These analogs are of potential interest as models of primitive, polynucleotide precursors. The efficiency of oligomerization (ImpdGpIm and ImpdApIm much greater than ImpdIpIm) appears to reflect a combination of stacking forces and the specific geometric orientations of the stacked units. Under favorable conditions, chain lengths greater than 20 have been obtained for oligomers containing pdGp in the absence of a template. In the presence of a complementary template, the activated derivatives of pdGp and pdAp oligomerize much more extensively. An acyclo-analog of G has also been shown to undergo template-directed oligomerization on poly(C). These observations suggest the possibility that primitive information transfer might have evolved in much simpler systems and that this function was taken over by polynucleotides at a later stage in evolution.
Document ID
19870066563
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
Authors
Schwartz, Alan W.
(Nijmegen Univ. Netherlands)
Visscher, J.
(Nijmegen Univ. Netherlands)
Bakker, C. G.
(Nijmegen Univ. Netherlands)
Niessen, J.
(Nijmegen, Katholieke Universiteit Netherlands)
Date Acquired
August 13, 2013
Publication Date
January 1, 1987
Publication Information
Publication: Origins of Life
Volume: 17
Issue: 3-4
ISSN: 0302-1688
Subject Category
Space Biology
Accession Number
87A53837
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: NGR-05-067-001
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other

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