Summary
Ferric hydroxide, a plausible prebiotic material, strongly adsorbs polynucleotides. We show that adsorption on ferric hydroxide and on several other minerals has no effect, under the conditions studies, on the template-directed oligomerization of guanylic acid on polycytidylic acid.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Abbreviations
- poly (C):
-
polycytidylic acid
- poly (U):
-
polyuridylic acid
- 2-MelmpG:
-
guanosine 5′-phospho-2-methylimidazolide
References
Arrhenius G (1984) Minerals with channel structure as substrates for nucleotide and peptide synthesis. In: Wickramasinghe NC (ed) Fundamental studies and the future of science. University of Cardiff Press, Cardiff, UK, pp 301–309
Gibbs D, Lohrmann R, Orgel LE (1980) Template-directed synthesis and selective adsorption of oligoadenylates on hydroxylapatite. J Mol Evol 15:347–354
Joyce GF, Inoue T, Orgel LE (1984) Non-enzymatic templatedirected synthesis on RNA random copolymers. J Mol Biol 176:279–306
Mellor JW (1934) A comprehensive treatise on inorganic and theoretical chemistry, vol XIII, part 2. Longmans, Green and Co, London, pp 701–731
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Schwartz, A.W., Orgel, L.E. Template-directed polynucleotide synthesis on mineral surfaces. J Mol Evol 21, 299–300 (1985). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02102362
Received:
Revised:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02102362