Abstract
In addition to being one of the proponents of the “Lipid World hypothesis”, David Deamer, together with other colleagues, pioneered studies involving formation of RNA-like oligomers from their ‘non-activated’, prebiotically plausible monomeric moieties. In particular, the pioneering work in this regard was a publication from 2008 in Origins of Life and Evolution of Biospheres, The Journal of the International Astrobiology Society, wherein we described the formation of RNA-like oligomers from nucleoside 5’-monophosphates. In that study, we had simulated a terrestrial geothermal environment, a niche that is thought to have facilitated the prebiotic non-enzymatic synthesis of polynucleotides. We showed that a mixture of lipids and non-activated mononucleotides resulted in the formation of relatively long strands of RNA-like polymers when subjected to repeated cycles of dehydration and rehydration (DH-RH). Since 2008, terrestrial geothermal niches and DH-RH conditions have been explored in the context of several other prebiotic processes. In this article, we review the work that we and other researchers have carried out since then in this line of research, including the development of new apparatus to carry out the simulation of prebiotic terrestrial geothermal environments.
Highlights
Synthesis of Nucleic Acids in A Lipid MediumSeveral potential prebiotic reactions could result in lipid-like amphiphilic molecules, e.g., long-chain hydrocarbons and their derivatives, using energy from volcanoes and hydrothermal vents, photochemistry, or pyrite-dependent reduction
Microfluidics & BIOMICs Cluster, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU, Farmazia Fakultatea, Unibertsitateko Ibilbidea 7, 01006 Gasteiz, Basque Country, Spain
They saw that glycine peptides form as minor products, minerals greatly accelerate the decomposition of glycine. They tested the decomposition of linoleic acid [38] and whether metalloporphyrins could result from dehydration and rehydration (DH-RH) cycles of mixtures containing hydrophobic porphyrins and different forms of iron [40]. Both of these apparatuses are likely to be useful for future experiments on the non-enzymatic polymerization of nucleotides and they may even inspire the construction of others that include novels options, such as the real-time analysis of the content of the reaction vessels
Summary
Several potential prebiotic reactions could result in lipid-like amphiphilic molecules, e.g., long-chain hydrocarbons and their derivatives, using energy from volcanoes and hydrothermal vents, photochemistry, or pyrite-dependent reduction These authors mention the work by researchers who observed the formation of long fatty acids and fatty alcohols, from CO, H2 and CO2 through Fischer–Tropsch Type (FTT) synthesis. Costanzo et al reported that 3’–5’ cyclic nucleotides worked as intermediaries in their reactions for the formation of RNA oligomers [4] The authors studied these reactions under aqueous conditions wherein they used media that had formamide and other compounds that may have existed in the prebiotic Earth. It resulted in the description of a pathway that might have facilitated the formation of oligomers of a putative RNA World, by invoking a much more likely prebiotic process
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