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Scientists recreate life’s first step: Linking amino acids to RNA

Chemists at UCL have shown how two of biology's most fundamental ingredients, RNA (ribonucleic acid) and amino acids, could have spontaneously joined together at the origin of life four billion years ago.

Amino acids are the building blocks of proteins, the "workhorses" of life essential to nearly every living process. But proteins cannot replicate or produce themselves they require instructions. These instructions are provided by RNA, a close chemical cousin of DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid).

In a new study, published in Nature, researchers chemically linked life's amino acids to RNA in conditions that could have occurred on the early Earth -- an achievement that has eluded scientists since the early 1970s.

Senior author Professor Matthew Powner, based at UCL's Department of Chemistry, said: "Life relies on the ability to synthesize proteins they are life's key functional molecules. Understanding the origin of protein synthesis is fundamental to understanding where life came from.

"Our study is a big step towards this goal, showing how RNA might have first come to control protein synthesis.

"Life today uses an immensely complex molecular machine, the ribosome, to synthesize proteins. This machine requires chemical instructions written in messenger RNA, which carries a gene's sequence from a cell's DNA to the ribosome. The ribosome then, like a factory assembly line, reads this RNA and links together amino acids, one by one, to create a protein.

"We have achieved the first part of that complex process, using very simple chemistry in water at neutral pH to link amino acids to RNA. The chemistry is spontaneous, selective and could have occurred on the early Earth."

Previous attempts to attach amino acids to RNA used highly reactive molecules, but these broke down in water and caused the amino acids to react with each other, rather than become linked to RNA.


For the new study, the researchers took inspiration from biology, using a gentler method to convert life's amino acids into a reactive form. This activation involved a thioester, a high-energy chemical compound important in many of life's biochemical processes and that has already been theorized to play a role at the start of life*.

Professor Powner said: "Our study unites two prominent origin of life theories -- the 'RNA world', where self-replicating RNA is proposed to be fundamental, and the 'thioester world', in which thioesters are seen as the energy source for the earliest forms of life."

In order to form these thioesters, the amino acids react with a sulfur-bearing compound called pantetheine. Last year, the same team published a paper demonstrating pantetheine can be synthesized under early Earth-like conditions, suggesting it was likely to play a role in starting life.

The next step, the researchers said, was to establish how RNA sequences could bind preferentially to specific amino acids, so that RNA could begin to code instructions for protein synthesis -- the origin of the genetic code.

"There are numerous problems to overcome before we can fully elucidate the origin of life, but the most challenging and exciting remains the origins of protein synthesis," said Professor Powner.

Lead author Dr Jyoti Singh, from UCL Chemistry, said: "Imagine the day that chemists might take simple, small molecules, consisting of carbon, nitrogen, hydrogen, oxygen, and sulfur atoms, and from these LEGO pieces form molecules capable of self-replication. This would be a monumental step towards solving the question of life's origin.

"Our study brings us closer to that goal by demonstrating how two primordial chemical LEGO pieces (activated amino acids and RNA) could have built peptides, short chains of amino acids that are essential to life.

"What is particularly groundbreaking is that the activated amino acid used in this study is a thioester, a type of molecule made from Coenzyme A, a chemical found in all living cells. This discovery could potentially link metabolism, the genetic code and protein building."

While the paper focuses solely on the chemistry, the research team said that the reactions they demonstrated could plausibly have taken place in pools or lakes of water on the early Earth (but not likely in the oceans as the concentrations of the chemicals would likely be too diluted).

The reactions are too small to see with a visible-light microscope and were tracked using a range of techniques that are used to probe the structure of molecules, including several types of magnetic resonance imaging (which shows how the atoms are arranged) and mass spectrometry (which shows the size of molecules).

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One atom, endless power: Scientists create a shape-shifting catalyst for green chemistry

 

Single-atom catalyst for sustainable chemical synthesis applications, featuring intelligent and reconfigurable behavior.

A research team at the Politecnico di Milano has developed an innovative single-atom catalyst capable of selectively adapting its chemical activity. This is a crucial step forward in sustainable chemistry and the design of more efficient and programmable industrial processes.

This achievement is a breakthrough in the field of single-atom catalysts. For the first time, scientists have demonstrated the possibility of designing a material that can selectively change its catalytic function depending on the chemical environment. It involves a sort of 'molecular switch' that allows complex reactions to be performed more cleanly and efficiently, using less energy than conventional processes.

The research focuses on a palladium-based catalyst in atomic form encapsulated in a specially designed organic structure. This structure allows the material to 'switch' between two key reactions in organic chemistry bioreaction and carbon-carbon coupling simply by varying the reaction conditions.

"We have created a system that can modulate catalytic reactivity in a controlled manner, paving the way for more intelligent, selective and sustainable chemical transformations," explains Gianvito Vilé, lecturer in the 'Giulio Natta' Department of Chemistry, Materials and Chemical Engineering at the Politecnico di Milano and coordinator of the study.

In addition to its reaction flexibility, the new catalyst stands out for its stability, recyclability and reduced environmental impact. The 'green' analyses conducted by the team show a significant decrease in waste and hazardous reagents.

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