Template-directed synthesis of oligonucleotides under eutectic conditions

Summary

One of the most important sets of model prebiotic experiments consists of reactions that synthesize complementary oligonucleotides from preformed templates under nonenzymatic conditions. Most of these experiments are conducted at 4°C using 0.01–0.1 M concentrations of activated nucleotide monomer and template (monomer equivalent). In an attempt to extend the conditions under which this type of reaction can occur, we have concentrated the reactants by freezing at −18°C, which is close to the NaCl−H₂O eutectic at −21°C.

The results from this set of experiments suggest that successful syntheses can occur with poly(C) concentrations as low at 5×10⁻⁴ M and 2MeImpG concentrations at 10⁻³ M. It was also anticipated that this mechanism might allow the previously unsuccessful poly(A)-directed synthesis of oligo(U)s to occur. However, no template effect was seen with the poly(A) and ImpU system. The failure of these conditions to allow template-directed synthesis of oligo(U)s supports the previously proposed idea that pyrimidines may not have been part of the earliest genetic material.

Because of the low concentrations of monomer and template that would be expected from prebiotic syntheses, this lower temperature could be considered a more plausible geologic setting for template-directed synthesis than the standard reaction conditions.