A Prebiotic Genetic Nucleotide as an Early Darwinian Ancestor for Pre-RNA Evolution

Area of Science:

• Astrobiology
• Biochemistry
• Origins of Life Research

Background:

• Prebiotic genetic nucleotides (PGNs) may have dominated early Earth's information transfer before canonical RNA.
• The functional capacity and evolutionary path of PGN-containing pre-RNAs are under-explored.
• Understanding this transition is crucial for the origins of life (OoL) field.

Purpose of the Study:

• To synthesize and characterize a prebiotically relevant nucleotide containing barbituric acid (BaTP).
• To investigate the enzymatic incorporation of BaTP into RNA and its functional consequences.
• To explore the information transfer capabilities of BaTP-containing pre-RNA to DNA.

Main Methods:

• Synthesis of barbituric acid-containing nucleotide (BaTP).
• Enzymatic incorporation of BaTP into RNA using T7 RNA polymerase.
• Functional analysis of BaTP-modified aptamers.
• Information transfer assay using RNA-dependent DNA polymerase.

Main Results:

• Successful enzymatic incorporation of BaTP into an RNA molecule.
• BaTP-modified aptamer retained secondary structure and biological function.
• Faithful information transfer from BaTP-containing pre-RNA to DNA was demonstrated.

Conclusions:

• BaTP represents a viable pre-RNA component with retained functionality.
• This study provides evidence for a potential evolutionary link between pre-RNA and canonical RNA.
• The findings offer insights into the molecular evolution of the early genetic code.