PRENUCRNA · Prebiotic Synthesis of Pyrimidine Nucleosides: New Insights into RNA Evolution

Prebiotic Synthesis of Pyrimidine Nucleosides: New Insights into RNA Evolution

Understanding how life evolved on Earth is widely regarded as one of the most formidable challenges in modern science. The exploration of the mechanisms regarding the origin of life not only expands our understanding of natural sciences, but also provides new clues regarding the search for life forms and Earth-like conditions on planets other than our own. Ribonucleic acid (RNA) is widely regarded by the scientific community as the key molecule that gave rise to the origin of life due to its ability to function both as genetic storage and as a catalyst. In order to support this “RNA World” hypothesis, scientists over the years have attempted to reproduce the conditions present on the early-earth to afford nucleosides in a prebiotic manner. The most challenging part is the synthesis of RNA building blocks called purine nucleosides (A, G) and pyrimidine nucleosides (C, U). Although two research groups demonstrated the prebiotic synthesis of each group of nucleosides respectively, their conditions differed significantly hence giving rise to the question of how the canonical nucleosides emerged from the prebiotic world together in equal abundances. In order to gain a deeper understanding of the early evolution of RNA, a uniform synthetic pathway affording canonical purine and pyrimidine nucleosides is a crucial subject of research. Moreover, investigation of the potential occurrence of a more primitive prebiotic molecule that might have evolved into RNA is also of great necessity to expand the view point of prebiotic evolution of RNA and hence the first life form. To this end, this project aims to study the prebiotic emergence of pyrimidine and pyrimidine-like nucleosides by developing a novel chemical route which works under plausible prebiotic conditions. The chemical pathway for the canonical pyrimidine nucleosides is designed in the way that it complements the purine synthesis pathway reported by Carell et al. Furthermore, prebiotic synthesis of novel pseudo-cyclic pyrimidines nucleosides bearing non-heterocyclic nucleobase surrogates will also be investigated in order to examine their potential validity as candidates for primitive RNA. This project will provide new insight into the evolution of RNA as well as a deeper understanding of the origin of life event on the early earth.

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