A Specific Scenario for the Origin of Life and the Genetic Code Based on Peptide/Oligonucleotide Interdependence

Griffith, Robert W.

doi:10.1007/s11084-009-9169-2

Cited by 14 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 74 publications

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“…The subsequent transition from either starting scenario to the DNA/RNA/protein world of extant life is yet to be fully understood (Poole et al 1998;Freeland et al 1999;Dworkin et al 2003;Orgel 2004). However, it is certain that organisms began accumulating and replicating DNA/RNA at some point along the evolutionary timeline (Darnell & Doolittle 1986;Griffith 2009). Hence, it is a necessity that to have been incorporated into DNA/RNA, the purine (adenine and guanine) and pyrimidine (cytosine, thymine, and uracil) nucleobases must have been readily available.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

On the Interaction of Adenine With Ionizing Radiation: Mechanistical Studies and Astrobiological Implications

Evans

Bennett

Ullrich

et al. 2011

ApJ

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The molecular inventory available on the prebiotic Earth was likely derived from both terrestrial and extraterrestrial sources. A complete description of which extraterrestrial molecules may have seeded early Earth is therefore necessary to fully understand the prebiotic evolution which led to life. Galactic cosmic rays (GCRs) are expected to cause both the formation and destruction of important biomolecules-including nucleic acid bases such as adenine-in the interstellar medium within the ices condensed on interstellar grains. The interstellar ultraviolet (UV) component is expected to photochemically degrade gas-phase adenine on a short timescale of only several years. However, the destruction rate is expected to be significantly reduced when adenine is shielded in dense molecular clouds or even within the ices of interstellar grains. Here, biomolecule destruction by the energetic charged particle component of the GCR becomes important as it is not fully attenuated. Presented here are results on the destruction rate of the nucleobase adenine in the solid state at 10 K by energetic electrons, as generated in the track of cosmic ray particles as they penetrate ices. When both UV and energetic charged particle destructive processes are taken into account, the half-life of adenine within dense interstellar clouds is found to be ∼6 Myr, which is on the order of a star-forming molecular cloud. We also discuss chemical reaction pathways within the ices to explain the production of observed species, including the formation of nitriles (R-C≡N), epoxides (C-O-C), and carbonyl functions (R-C=O).

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

On the Interaction of Adenine With Ionizing Radiation: Mechanistical Studies and Astrobiological Implications

Evans

Bennett

Ullrich

et al. 2011

ApJ

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“…Woese [30] proposed the RNA world hypothesis (a term coined by Walter Gilbert in 1986 [31]): the earliest biomolecules on earth were RNA, and then DNA (Figure 1); the early RNA molecules had the abilities of information storage as DNA and catalysis as ribozymes, and supported the operation of the early cell or the protocell life. The RNA world is believed to be the most widely accepted hypothesis to explain how life arose [32]. Although there may never be direct physical evidence of an RNA-based organism, several evidences were believed to support the RNA world: discovery of catalytic ribozymes, catalytic roles of natural RNA, and evolution of enhanced catalytic function of RNA under in vitro selection [17,29,33].…”

Section: -3 Atp-centered Rna World Driven By Solar Energymentioning

confidence: 99%

ATP-Hypothesis: A New Conceptual Framework for the Origins of Genetic Codes

Xie¹

2020

Preprint

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The origin of genetic codes is the key to reveal life’s origin on the earth as it is a prerequisite for the existence of life. More than half a century has passed since the discovery of genetic codes, while their origin is still one of the greatest mysteries. Are the origins of genetic codes really unknowable? Do they really require external design? Here, I present an ATP-hypothesis that explains how the genetic codes came into being with the coevolution of biochemical system. ATP has several properties that make it suitable as the initiator of the origin of genetic codes. First, ATP is the only energetic product of photosynthesis. Second, ATP is at the heart of the extant biochemical systems. Third, ATP serves as carriers of both energy and information. Fourth, ATP could energetically elongate chains of both polynucleotides and polypeptides, thus providing a bridge between them, and eventually mediating prebiotic biochemical transaction from energy to information. This hypothesis shows how primitive life emerged through a series of processes from energy to information mediated by ATP. Informatization (processes of creating and managing information) was inevitably coupled with structuralization (processes of organizing or incorporating into a cellular structure), making polynucleotides and polypeptides be cyclized into a system of reciprocal causation. The triplet codon might just be for stereo-chemical handing of amino acid through e.g. Watson–Crick pairing interactions. It is an evolutionary completion for genetic codes from RNA to DNA, only which, a reverse to the Central Dogma, marked the dawn of cellular life when Darwinian evolution began to operate. ATP-hypothesis shades lights on the origin of life, together with the formations of both photosynthesis and biochemical systems, which have been largely unknown so far.

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“…Woese [30] proposed the RNA world hypothesis (a term coined by Walter Gilbert in 1986 [31]): the earliest biomolecules on Earth were RNA, followed by DNA; the early RNA molecules had the ability to store information as DNA and to perform catalysis as ribozymes and supported the operation of the early cell or protocell. The RNA world hypothesis is believed to be the most widely accepted hypothesis to explain how life arose [32]. Although there may never be direct physical evidence of an RNA-based organism, several lines of evidence are believed to support the RNA world hypothesis: discovery of catalytic ribozymes, catalytic roles of natural RNA, and evolution of enhanced catalytic function of RNA under in vitro selection [17,29,33].…”

Section: -3 Atp-centered Rna World Driven By Solar Energymentioning

confidence: 99%

The ATP Hypothesis: A New Conceptual Framework for the Origin of the Genetic Code

Xie¹

2020

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The origin of the genetic code is the key to revealing the origin of life on Earth, as it is a prerequisite for the existence of life. More than half a century has passed since the discovery of the genetic code, but its origin is still one of the greatest mysteries. Is the origin of the genetic code truly unknowable? Does the code truly require external design? Here, a hypothesis is proposed, according to which ATP is at the origin of the genetic code by its coevolution with the pristine biochemical system. ATP has several properties that make it suitable as a plausible initiator of the genetic code. First, ATP is the only energetic product of photosynthesis. Second, ATP is at the heart of the extant biochemical systems. Third, ATP serves as a carrier of both energy and information. Fourth, ATP could energetically elongate chains of both polynucleotides and polypeptides, thus providing a bridge between these molecules and eventually mediating prebiotic biochemical innovation from energy transformation to informatization. This hypothesis shows how primitive life emerged through a series of processes from energy to information flow mediated by ATP. Informatization (processes for creating and managing information) was inevitably coupled with structuralization (processes for organizing or incorporating cellular structures), cyclizing polynucleotides and polypeptides into a feedback loop of reciprocal causation. The triplet codon might be only for stereochemical handling of amino acids through, e.g., Watson–Crick pairing interactions. It is only the evolutionary completion of the genetic code from RNA to DNA that, contrary to the central dogma, marked the dawn of cellular life, when Darwinian evolution began to operate. The ATP hypothesis sheds light on the origin of life, together with the formation of both photosynthetic and biochemical systems, which remains largely unknown thus far.

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A Specific Scenario for the Origin of Life and the Genetic Code Based on Peptide/Oligonucleotide Interdependence

Cited by 14 publications

References 74 publications

On the Interaction of Adenine With Ionizing Radiation: Mechanistical Studies and Astrobiological Implications

On the Interaction of Adenine With Ionizing Radiation: Mechanistical Studies and Astrobiological Implications

ATP-Hypothesis: A New Conceptual Framework for the Origins of Genetic Codes

The ATP Hypothesis: A New Conceptual Framework for the Origin of the Genetic Code

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