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The Prebiotic Synthesis of Oligonucleotides

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Book cover Cosmochemical Evolution and the Origins of Life

Abstract

This paper is primarily a review of recent developments in the abiotic synthesis of nucleotides, short chain oligonucleotides, and their mode of replication in solution. It also presents preliminary results from this laboratory on the prebiotic synthesis of thymidine oligodeoxynucleotides. A discussion, based on the physicochemical properties of RNA and DNA oligomers, relevant to the molecular evolution of these compounds leads to the tentative hypothesis that oligodeoxyribonucleotides of about 12 units may have been of sufficient length to initiate a self replicating coding system. Two models are suggested to account for the synthesis of high molecular weight oligomers using short chain templates and primers.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Depts. of Biophysical Sciences and Chemistry, University of Houston, Houston, Tex., 77004, USA

    J. Oró & E. Stephen-Sherwood

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  1. J. Oró
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  2. E. Stephen-Sherwood
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Departments of Biophysical Sciences and Chemistry, University of Houston, Houston, Texas, USA

    J. Oró

  2. Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain

    J. Oró

  3. Department of Chemistry, University of California, San Diego, California, USA

    S. L. Miller

  4. Laboratory of Chemical Evolution, Department of Chemistry, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, USA

    C. Ponnamperuma

  5. NASA, Washington, D.C., USA

    R. S. Young (Head of Planetary Biology) (Head of Planetary Biology)

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© 1974 D. Reidel Publishing Company, Dordrecht, Holland

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Oró, J., Stephen-Sherwood, E. (1974). The Prebiotic Synthesis of Oligonucleotides. In: Oró, J., Miller, S.L., Ponnamperuma, C., Young, R.S. (eds) Cosmochemical Evolution and the Origins of Life. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-2239-2_13

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-2239-2_13

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

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  • Online ISBN: 978-94-010-2239-2

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