Publication details
Tetraloop-like Geometries Could Form the Basis of the Catalytic Activity of the Most Ancient Ribooligonucleotides
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2015 |
| Type | Article in Periodical |
| Magazine / Source | Chemistry - A European Journal |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Web | http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/chem.201406140/epdf |
| Doi | http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/chem.201406140 |
| Field | Physical chemistry and theoretical chemistry |
| Keywords | catalysis; molecular dynamics; oligonucleotides; ribozymes; RNA |
| Description | The origin of the catalytic activity of ancient oligonucleotides is a largely unexplored field of contemporary science. In the current work we use molecular dynamics simulations to investigate the plausibility of tetraloop-like overhang geometries to initiate transphosphorylation reactions that lead to ligation and terminal cleavage in simple, Watson-Crick (WC) complementary oligoC/oligoG sequences observed experimentally. We show a series of examples of known tetraloop architectures, which can be adopted by the unpaired overhangs of short oligonucleotide sequences for a sufficiently long time to enable chemical reactions that lead to simple ribozyme-like catalytic activity. Thus, our computations demonstrate that the role of non-WC interactions at the emergence of the most ancient catalytic oligonucleotides could be more significant than ever believed. |
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