A Polyaddition Model for the Prebiotic Polymerization of RNA and RNA-Like Polymers.

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ID: 93335
2020
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Abstract
Implicit in the RNA world hypothesis is that prebiotic RNA synthesis, despite occurring in an environment without biochemical catalysts, produced the long RNA polymers which are essential to the formation of life. In order to investigate the prebiotic formation of long RNA polymers, we consider a general solution of functionally identical monomer units that are capable of bonding to form linear polymers by a step-growth process. Under the assumptions that (1) the solution is well-mixed and (2) bonding/unbonding rates are independent of polymerization state, the concentration of each length of polymer follows the geometric Flory-Schulz distribution. We consider the rate dynamics that produce this equilibrium; connect the rate dynamics, Gibbs free energy of bond formation, and the bonding probability; solve the dynamics in closed form for the representative special case of a Flory-Schulz initial condition; and demonstrate the effects of imposing a maximum polymer length. Afterwards, we derive a lower bound on the error introduced , we suggest methods to connect these theoretical predictions to experimental results.
Reference Key
spaeth2020alife Use this key to autocite in the manuscript while using SciMatic Manuscript Manager or Thesis Manager
Authors Spaeth, Alex;Hargrave, Mason;
Journal Life (Basel, Switzerland)
Year 2020
DOI
E12
URL
Keywords
thermodynamics astrobiology prebiotic chemistry flory-schulz distribution rna world chemical kinetics linear step-growth polymerization nonenzymatic polymerization origins of life

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