RNA and proteins are two crucial players in the origin of life but while RNA evolved to assemble proteins from amino acids, a significant mirror-symmetric effect of amino acids to trigger the synthesis of RNA was missing. Here, the authors report ambient alkaline conditions where amino acids, without additional chemical activators, promote RNA copolymerisation more than 100-fold, starting from prebiotically plausible ribonucleoside-2′,3′-cyclic phosphates.
- Saroj K. Rout
- Sreekar Wunnava
- Dieter Braun
