The eutectic phase in water ice: a microenvironment conducive to non-enzymatic biopolymer formation

Details The eutectic phase in water ice: a microenvironment conducive to non-enzymatic biopolymer formation The eutectic phase in water ice: a microenvironment conducive to non-enzymatic biopolymer formation

Mar 2004

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2004esasp.545..145m&link_type=abstract

In: Proceedings of the Third European Workshop on Exo-Astrobiology, 18 - 20 November 2003, Madrid, Spain. Ed.: R. A. Harris & L.

Biology

Exobiology, Astrobiology

Scientific paper

Water was probably essential for the synthetic reactions that led to the formation of the first biopolymers and, in time, to the emergence of life. Spatial exploration has established that water exists on Mars, Europa and comets, mostly as ice. This medium could have been advantageous for the synthesis of biopolymers because ice tends to preserve organic chemicals, such as polymer building blocks, by reducing temperature-dependent degradation. In addition, it concentrates them, and could likely have ordered them, thereby facilitating their polymerization. We review here recent results we have obtained exploring non-enzymatic ribonucleotide condensations forming RNA oligomers in the eutectic phase in water ice. At -18°C, the formation of mixed polymers proceeded efficiently in the presence of low concentrations of Pb2+/Mg2+ in reaction mixtures containing the four phosphoimidazolide-activated nucleobases. Product yields corresponded to a monomer incorporation of 80-90% into oligomers up to 22-mer in length with a high fraction of natural RNA linkages (3'-5'). Thus, an extensive ice layer or ice deposits on the early Earth and Mars may have provided a broad niche for the synthesis of biopolymers or their precursors.

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