The Miller Volcanic Spark Discharge Experiment

Johnson, Adam P.; Cleaves, H. James; Dworkin, Jason P.; Glavin, Daniel P.; Lazcano, Antonio; Bada, Jeffrey L.

doi:10.1126/science.1161527

Cited by 324 publications

(280 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…Accordingly, we examined the reaction of 2-aminothiazole (7) with aldehydes and ketones 2d-w, which are all prebiotic amino acid precursors. 2,[8][9][10][11][12][13] All of the aldehydes furnished their aminals (8d-w) in excellent yield (Table 1). In stark contrast, no ketone aminals precipitated, even after extended incubation.…”

Section: Selective Synthesis Of Pentose Aminooxazoline (1) From a Commentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, no reported prebiotic synthesis or meteoritic amino acid sample provides the restricted set of amino acids assigned to the genetic code. 2,[8][9][10][11][12][13] For example, Sutherland and co-workers recently demonstrated the stepwise prebiotic syntheses of 12 aminonitrile (13) proteinogenic amino acid precursors, but paradoxically, essential ketones-such as acetone (2o), monohydroxyacetone (2p) and dihydroxyacetone (2q)-are required during assembly of the branched carbon framework of valine and leucine. 13 Ideally ketones would be excluded from prebiotic aminonitrile 13 synthesis because prebiotic ketones undergo aminonitrile formation just as effectively as aldehydes, but α,α-disubstituted amino acids are not genetically encoded (Table 1).…”

Section: Selective Synthesis Of Pentose Aminooxazoline (1) From a Commentioning

confidence: 99%

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Prebiotic selection and assembly of proteinogenic amino acids and natural nucleotides from complex mixtures

2017

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UK 2A central problem for prebiotic synthesis of the biological amino acids and nucleotides is avoiding the concomitant synthesis of undesired or irrelevant byproducts. Additionally, multistep pathways require mechanisms that enable the sequential addition of reactants and purification of intermediates that are consistent with reasonable geochemical scenarios. Here, we show that 2-aminothiazole reacts selectively with two-and three-carbon sugars (glycolaldehyde and glyceraldehyde, respectively), which results in their accumulation and purification as stable crystalline aminals. This permits ribonucleotide synthesis, even from complex sugar mixtures. Remarkably, aminal formation also overcomes the thermodynamically favoured isomerisation of glyceraldehyde to dihydroxyacetone because only the aminal of glyceraldehyde separates from the equilibrating mixture. Finally, we show that aminal formation provides a novel pathway to amino acids that avoids synthesis of the non-proteinogenic α,α-disubstituted analogues. The common physicochemical mechanism that controls proteinogenic amino acid and ribonucleotide assembly from prebiotic mixtures suggests these essential classes of metabolite had a unified chemical origin. 3The conservation of the genetic code, amino acids, and nucleotides in biology suggests a single origin of life on Earth. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13] Proteins are built from a highly restricted set of about 20 amino acids according to a universal triplet code of four ribonucleotides. Therefore, it is essential to learn how this specific small constellation of molecules became irrevocably linked at the advent of life. In contrast to the narrow distribution of universal metabolites observed in biology, typical prebiotic reactions are notorious for their complex product distributions. Accordingly, it has been recognised that "the chief obstacle to understanding the origin of RNA-based life is identifying a plausible mechanism for overcoming the clutter wrought by prebiotic chemistry". [4][5][6][7] For example, the most-efficient and specific proposed prebiotic pathway to the pyrimidine ribonucleotides requires synthesis of the key intermediate pentose aminooxazoline (1) (Fig. 1a). [2][3][4][5][6][22][23][24] However, the plausibility of this proposed prebiotic synthesis of pentose aminooxazoline (1) has been questioned because it is contingent upon the strictly controlled sequential delivery of pure glycolaldehyde (2a) to cyanamide (3) to yield 2-aminooxazole (4), followed by pure glyceraldehyde (2b) to 2-aminooxazole (4) to yield the desired product (Fig. 1a). This is a serious problem because both of these reactions lack the intrinsic selectivity required to exclusively yield their respective products (2-aminooxazole (4) and pentose aminooxazoline (1)) from mixtures of glycolaldehyde (2a) and glyceraldehyde (2b). The problem becomes increasingly worse in the presence of other sugars. Without a separate and sequential delivery of glycolaldehyde (2a) and glyceraldehyde (2b), a complex mixture...

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Section: Selective Synthesis Of Pentose Aminooxazoline (1) From a Commentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Selective Synthesis Of Pentose Aminooxazoline (1) From a Commentioning

confidence: 99%

Prebiotic selection and assembly of proteinogenic amino acids and natural nucleotides from complex mixtures

2017

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“…Analyses of the vials from the original experiment reported in Science in 1953 revealed that thirteen amino acids and five amines had been synthesized compared to the seven amino acids Miller had reported (Table 1). In addition, analyses of the vials from the «volcanic» apparatus showed that twenty-one amino acids had been synthesized along with five amines (Johnson et al, 2008 We next turned our attention to boxes of vials from experiments carried out in 1958. For reasons that are unknown, as far as we could ascertain, Miller had never analyzed these after the experiment was carried out.…”

Section: Monographmentioning

confidence: 99%

One of the foremost experiments of the 20th century: Stanley Miller and the origin of prebiotic chemistry

Bada

2015

Mètode

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Stanley Miller is best known for his classic 1953 experiment on the synthesis of early Earth organic compounds, in the context of the origins of life. However, he did several other experiments that are lesser known and, in some cases, have never been published. The finding in 2007 that Miller had archived dried solutions from his 1950s experiments offered the opportunity of analyzing the products of his early experiments using modern day state-of-the-art techniques. These results, along with Miller's results, have provided an inventory of the large variety of compounds that include amino acids, amines, simple peptides, hydroxy acids, simple hydrocarbons and urea, which can be synthesized under simulated early Earth conditions.

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“…(ii) G 2 is able to duplicate and grow through the classical operations such as mutation, insertion, deletion, inversion and translocation (Faraut & Demongeot 2000) with nucleic material already present in the environment, for example, nucleic bases synthesized from Miller's type reaction (Johnson et al 2008), and to export small RNA fragments to G 1 .…”

Section: Beyond a Common Fitness Function Between Rna Relics Viral Gmentioning

confidence: 99%

Micro-RNAs: viral genome and robustness of gene expression in the host

Demongeot

Drouet

Elena

et al. 2009

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A.

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For comparing RNA rings or hairpins with reference or random ring sequences, circular versions of distances and distributions like those of Hamming and Gumbel are needed. We define these circular versions and we apply these new tools to the comparison of RNA relics (such as micro-RNAs and tRNAs) with viral genomes that have coevolved with them. Then we show how robust are the regulation networks incorporating in their boundary micro-RNAs as sources or new feedback loops involving ubiquitous proteins like p53 (which is a micro-RNA transcription factor) or oligopeptides regulating protein translation. Eventually, we propose a new coevolution game between viral and host genomes.

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The Miller Volcanic Spark Discharge Experiment

Cited by 324 publications

References 7 publications

Prebiotic selection and assembly of proteinogenic amino acids and natural nucleotides from complex mixtures

Prebiotic selection and assembly of proteinogenic amino acids and natural nucleotides from complex mixtures

One of the foremost experiments of the 20th century: Stanley Miller and the origin of prebiotic chemistry

Micro-RNAs: viral genome and robustness of gene expression in the host

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