Abstract
It is proposed that the primordial genetic material could have been peptide nucleic acids, i.e., DNA analogues having a peptide backbone. PNA monomers based on the amino acid, alpha, gamma-diaminobutyric acid or ornithine are suggested as compounds that could have been formed in the prebiotic soup. Finally, the possibility of a PNA/RNA world is presented, in which PNA constitutes the stable genetic material, while RNA which may be polymerized using the PNA as template accounts for enzymatic activities including PNA replication.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Journal | Origins of Life and Evolution of Biospheres |
| Volume | 23 |
| Issue number | 5-6 |
| Pages (from-to) | 323-7 |
| Number of pages | 5 |
| ISSN | 0169-6149 |
| Publication status | Published - Dec 1993 |
Keywords
- Base Sequence
- DNA/chemistry
- Models, Chemical
- Models, Genetic
- Molecular Conformation
- Molecular Sequence Data
- Molecular Structure
- Nucleic Acids/chemistry
- Peptides/chemistry
- RNA, Catalytic/chemistry