英国剑桥大学Thomas Carell研究团队的一项最新工作提出了同时合成嘧啶和嘌呤RNA核糖核苷酸的可能途径。这一研究成果于2019年10月4日发表在国际学术期刊《科学》上。

研究人员报道了由小分子和核糖合成的嘧啶核苷，仅由干湿循环驱动。在含磷酸盐的矿物质存在下，一锅反应也选择性地形成5'-单磷酸盐和二磷酸盐。该途径与嘌呤合成共存，从而可以同时形成所有沃森-克里克碱基。

据悉，有理论认为，生命的起源需要化学途径，即在合适条件下形成生命的关键组成部分。像RNA这样的复杂分子必定起源于小分子，而小分子的反应性受理化过程的指导。RNA是由嘌呤和嘧啶核苷构建的，这两个都是精确信息传递和达尔文进化所必需的。形成嘌呤和嘧啶的不同途径已经报道，但是它们同时进行的合成仍然是一个挑战。

附：英文原文

Title: Unified prebiotically plausible synthesis of pyrimidine and purine RNA ribonucleotides

Author: Sidney Becker, Jonas Feldmann, Stefan Wiedemann, Hidenori Okamura, Christina Schneider, Katharina Iwan, Antony Crisp, Martin Rossa, Tynchtyk Amatov, Thomas Carell

Issue&Volume: Volume 366 Issue 6461

Abstract: Theories about the origin of life require chemical pathways that allow formation of life’s key building blocks under prebiotically plausible conditions. Complex molecules like RNA must have originated from small molecules whose reactivity was guided by physico-chemical processes. RNA is constructed from purine and pyrimidine nucleosides, both of which are required for accurate information transfer, and thus Darwinian evolution. Separate pathways to purines and pyrimidines have been reported, but their concurrent syntheses remain a challenge. We report the synthesis of the pyrimidine nucleosides from small molecules and ribose, driven solely by wet-dry cycles. In the presence of phosphate-containing minerals, 5′-mono- and diphosphates also form selectively in one-pot reactions. The pathway is compatible with purine synthesis, allowing the concurrent formation of all Watson-Crick bases.

DOI: 10.1126/science.aax2747

Source:https://science.sciencemag.org/content/366/6461/76