Synthesis of Peptides, Peptide Nucleic Acid Components, and Other Biogenic Compounds From a Three-Component Prebiotic...

We have explored the reactions of a three-components mixture made of formamide, diaminomaleonitrile, and glycine, with meteorites as catalysts and high-energy proton beam irradiation as the energy source, mimicking the solar wind. The resulting mixture contained a wide array of biogenic compounds, including the complete set of RNA nucleobases and nucleosides, thymine and its analogs, pterins, triazines, carboxylic acids, diketopiperazines, hydantoins, N-carboxyamino acid anhydrides, amino acids, peptides, and nucleobase-amino acid/peptide conjugates. It also embodies the possibility of synthesis stability of RNA-peptide chimeras onto which evolution to the extant molecular genetic system could start. The prebiotic worth of the system consists of the fact that formamide derives from HCN hydrolysis; glycine is a condensation product of formamide and HCN; diaminomaleonitrile is obtained from HCN. The fact that the starting mixture is three-component does not decrease the prebiotic value; it is a subset of a largely possible general universal condition: all the starting components are only the second step of facile condensation reactions. This model could be the starting point for the chemical evolution towards biological complexity.