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Xu J, Green NJ, Russell DA, et al. Prebiotic Photochemical Coproduction of Purine Ribo- and Deoxyribonucleosides. J Am Chem Soc. 2021;143(36):14482-14486doi: 10.1021/jacs.1c07403.
Xu, J., Green, N. J., Russell, D. A., Liu, Z., & Sutherland, J. D. (2021). Prebiotic Photochemical Coproduction of Purine Ribo- and Deoxyribonucleosides. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 143(36), 14482-14486. https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.1c07403
Xu, Jianfeng, et al. "Prebiotic Photochemical Coproduction of Purine Ribo- and Deoxyribonucleosides." Journal of the American Chemical Society vol. 143,36 (2021): 14482-14486. doi: https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.1c07403
Xu J, Green NJ, Russell DA, Liu Z, Sutherland JD. Prebiotic Photochemical Coproduction of Purine Ribo- and Deoxyribonucleosides. J Am Chem Soc. 2021 Sep 15;143(36):14482-14486. doi: 10.1021/jacs.1c07403. Epub 2021 Sep 01. PMID: 34469129; PMCID: PMC8607323.
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J Am Chem Soc. 2021 Sep 15;143(36):14482-14486. doi: 10.1021/jacs.1c07403. Epub 2021 Sep 01.

Prebiotic Photochemical Coproduction of Purine Ribo- and Deoxyribonucleosides.

Journal of the American Chemical Society

Jianfeng Xu, Nicholas J Green, David A Russell, Ziwei Liu, John D Sutherland

Affiliations

  1. MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Francis Crick Avenue, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Cambridge CB2 0QH, U.K.

PMID: 34469129 PMCID: PMC8607323 DOI: 10.1021/jacs.1c07403

Abstract

The hypothesis that life on Earth may have started with a heterogeneous nucleic acid genetic system including both RNA and DNA has attracted broad interest. The recent finding that two RNA subunits (cytidine, C, and uridine, U) and two DNA subunits (deoxyadenosine, dA, and deoxyinosine, dI) can be coproduced in the same reaction network, compatible with a consistent geological scenario, supports this theory. However, a prebiotically plausible synthesis of the missing units (purine ribonucleosides and pyrimidine deoxyribonucleosides) in a unified reaction network remains elusive. Herein, we disclose a strictly stereoselective and furanosyl-selective synthesis of purine ribonucleosides (adenosine, A, and inosine, I) and purine deoxynucleosides (dA and dI), alongside one another, via a key photochemical reaction of thioanhydroadenosine with sulfite in alkaline solution (pH 8-10). Mechanistic studies suggest an unexpected recombination of sulfite and nucleoside alkyl radicals underpins the formation of the ribo C2'-O bond. The coproduction of A, I, dA, and dI from a common intermediate, and under conditions likely to have prevailed in at least some primordial locales, is suggestive of the potential coexistence of RNA and DNA building blocks at the dawn of life.

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