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Updated: Aug 15, 2026

Comparative RNA Structure Analysis of Nascent and Mature Transcripts in Saccharomyces cerevisiae
Published on: February 27, 2026
A model on the origin of RNA
Toyoyuki Kitamura1, Michel Peyrard, Santiago Cuesta Lopez
1Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon, 46, Allée d'Italie, 69364 Lyon Cedex 07, France.
Abstract:
The theory of the liquid-glass transition is extended to describe the polymerization of RNA in a nucleotide-condensed state. In the glassy state the ribose subunits are joined by a 2'-5' or 3'-5' phosphodiester linkage to form the ribose-phosphate backbone similar to oligosaccharides and polysaccharides. The occurrence of the glass transition requires two conditions: (1) a supercooled state in a nucleotide-condensed state should exist below the temperature at which the whole RNA hydrolyzes; (2) the Gibbs free energy due to the Kauzmann entropy, which obeys a Curie law with a negative sign, must be larger than the height of the potential barrier for nucleotides to overcome to form the binding.
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