Skip to main content
bioRxiv
  • Home
  • About
  • Submit
  • ALERTS / RSS
Advanced Search
New Results

Hydrogen peroxide thermochemical oscillator as driver for primordial RNA replication

View ORCID ProfileRowena Ball, John Brindley
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/003368
Rowena Ball
1Mathematical Sciences Institute, The Australian National University, Canberra 0200, Australia
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • ORCID record for Rowena Ball
John Brindley
2School of Mathematics, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, U. K.
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • Abstract
  • Full Text
  • Info/History
  • Metrics
  • Preview PDF
Loading

Abstract

This paper presents and tests a previously unrecognised mechanism for driving a replicating molecular system on the prebiotic earth. It is proposed that cell-free RNA replication in the primordial soup may have been driven by self-sustained oscillatory thermochemical reactions. To test this hypothesis a well-characterised hydrogen peroxide oscillator was chosen as the driver and complementary RNA strands with known association and melting kinetics were used as the substrate. An open flow system model for the self-consistent, coupled evolution of the temperature and concentrations in a simple autocatalytic scheme is solved numerically, and it is shown that thermochemical cycling drives replication of the RNA strands. For the (justifiably realistic) values of parameters chosen for the simulated example system, the mean amount of replicant produced at steady state is 6.56 times the input amount, given a constant supply of substrate species. The spontaneous onset of sustained thermochemical oscillations via slowly drifting parameters is demonstrated, and a scheme is given for prebiotic production of complementary RNA strands on rock surfaces.

Footnotes

  • Email: Rowena.Ball{at}anu.edu.au

Copyright 
The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under a CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license.
Back to top
PreviousNext
Posted March 17, 2014.
Download PDF
Email

Thank you for your interest in spreading the word about bioRxiv.

NOTE: Your email address is requested solely to identify you as the sender of this article.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
Hydrogen peroxide thermochemical oscillator as driver for primordial RNA replication
(Your Name) has forwarded a page to you from bioRxiv
(Your Name) thought you would like to see this page from the bioRxiv website.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
Share
Hydrogen peroxide thermochemical oscillator as driver for primordial RNA replication
Rowena Ball, John Brindley
bioRxiv 003368; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/003368
Digg logo Reddit logo Twitter logo Facebook logo Google logo LinkedIn logo Mendeley logo
Citation Tools
Hydrogen peroxide thermochemical oscillator as driver for primordial RNA replication
Rowena Ball, John Brindley
bioRxiv 003368; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/003368

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
  • Tweet Widget
  • Facebook Like
  • Google Plus One

Subject Area

  • Synthetic Biology
Subject Areas
All Articles
  • Animal Behavior and Cognition (4113)
  • Biochemistry (8816)
  • Bioengineering (6519)
  • Bioinformatics (23463)
  • Biophysics (11791)
  • Cancer Biology (9209)
  • Cell Biology (13325)
  • Clinical Trials (138)
  • Developmental Biology (7439)
  • Ecology (11411)
  • Epidemiology (2066)
  • Evolutionary Biology (15152)
  • Genetics (10439)
  • Genomics (14044)
  • Immunology (9171)
  • Microbiology (22159)
  • Molecular Biology (8813)
  • Neuroscience (47573)
  • Paleontology (350)
  • Pathology (1429)
  • Pharmacology and Toxicology (2492)
  • Physiology (3730)
  • Plant Biology (8082)
  • Scientific Communication and Education (1437)
  • Synthetic Biology (2221)
  • Systems Biology (6039)
  • Zoology (1253)