Issue 30, 2016

Unified reaction pathways for the prebiotic formation of RNA and DNA nucleobases

Abstract

The reaction pathways for the prebiotic formation of nucleobases are complex and lead to the formation of a mixture of products. In the past 50 years, there has been a concerted effort for identifying a unified mechanism for the abiotic origin of the biomolecules but with little success. In the present theoretical study, we identified two prominent precursors for the building up of RNA and DNA nucleobases under prebiotic conditions: (a) 1,2-diaminomaleonitrile (DAMN), which is a tetramer of hydrogen cyanide (HCN), and (b) formamide, a hydrolysis product of HCN; it is important to emphasize that HCN is the source of both precursors. We find that free radical pathways are potentially appropriate to account for the origin of nucleobases from HCN. The current study unites the formamide pathways with the DAMN pathways. The mechanisms for the formation of the RNA and DNA nucleobases (uracil, adenine, purine, cytosine) were studied by quantum chemical computations using density functional theory at the B3LYP/6-311G(d,p) level. All the routes involved proceed with relatively low energy barriers (within the error margin of DFT methods). We showed that the radical mechanisms for the formation of nucleobases could be unified through common precursors. The results demonstrated that 4-aminoimidazole-5-carbonitrile (AICN), which is a known precursor for nucleobases, is a product of DAMN. The overall mechanisms are internally consistent with the abiotic formation of the nucleobases, namely (a) under a meteoritic impact scenario on the early Earth's surface that generated high internal energy, and/or (b) in the (gas phase) interstellar regions without the presence of catalysts.

Graphical abstract: Unified reaction pathways for the prebiotic formation of RNA and DNA nucleobases

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
21 Apr 2016
Accepted
06 Mai 2016
First published
10 Mai 2016

Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2016,18, 20177-20188

Author version available

Unified reaction pathways for the prebiotic formation of RNA and DNA nucleobases

Y. A. Jeilani, P. N. Williams, S. Walton and M. T. Nguyen, Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2016, 18, 20177 DOI: 10.1039/C6CP02686A

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements