Affiliation: | 1. NSF-NASA Center for Chemical Evolution, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, 30302 GA USA;2. Dept. de Biología de Sistemas/IQAR, Universidad de Alcalá, 28806 Madrid, Spain NASA HQ/Georgetown University/GSFC, Greenbelt, MD 20771;3. Dept. de Biología de Sistemas/IQAR, Universidad de Alcalá, 28806 Madrid, Spain Dept. of Physical and Analytical Chemistry, Universidad de Jaen, Jaén, 23071 Jaen Spain;4. School of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, 30302 GA USA Dept. de Biología de Sistemas/IQAR, Universidad de Alcalá, 28806 Madrid, Spain;5. School of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, 30302 GA USA |
Abstract: | The prebiotic origins of biopolymers and metabolic co-factors are key questions in Origins of Life studies. In a simple warm-little-pond model, using a drying phase to produce a urea-enriched solution, we present a prebiotic synthetic path for the simultaneous formation of neopterins and tetrahydroneopterins, along with purine nucleosides. We show that, in the presence of ribose and in a formylating environment consisting of urea, ammonium formate, and water (UAFW), the formation of neopterins from pyrimidine precursors is robust, while the simultaneous formation of guanosine requires a significantly higher ribose concentration. Furthermore, these reactions provide a tetrahydropterin–pterin redox pair. This model suggests a prebiotic link in the origin of purine nucleosides and pterin cofactors that provides a possible deep prebiotic temporal connection for the emergence of nucleic acids and metabolic cofactors. |