Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2023
Journal Title
Chemical Science
Volume Number
14
Issue Number
37
First Page
10318
Last Page
10328
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1039/d3sc03540a
Version
Publisher PDF: the final published version of the article, with professional formatting and typesetting
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a CC BY License.
Disciplines
Chemistry
Abstract
Early stages of life likely employed catalytic RNAs (ribozymes) in many functions that are today filled by proteins. However, the earliest life forms must have emerged from heterogenous chemical mixtures, which included amino acids, short peptides, and many other compounds. Here we explored whether the presence of short peptides can help the emergence of catalytic RNAs. To do this, we conducted an in vitro selection for catalytic RNAs from randomized sequence in the presence of ten different peptides with a prebiotically plausible length of eight amino acids. This in vitro selection generated dozens of ribozymes, one of them with ∼900-fold higher activity in the presence of one specific peptide. Unexpectedly, the beneficial peptide had retained its N-terminal Fmoc protection group, and this group was required to benefit ribozyme activity. The same, or higher benefit resulted from peptide conjugates with prebiotically plausible polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) such as fluorene and naphthalene. This shows that PAH-peptide conjugates can act as potent cofactors to enhance ribozyme activity. The results are discussed in the context of the origin of life.
Digital USD Citation
Sweeney, Kevin J.; Le, Tommy; Jorge, Micaella Z.; Schellinger, Joan G.; Leman, Luke J.; and Müller, Ulrich F., "Peptide Conjugates With Polyaromatic Hydrocarbons Can Benefit the Activity of Catalytic RNAs" (2023). Chemistry and Biochemistry: Faculty Scholarship. 47.
https://digital.sandiego.edu/chemistry_facpub/47