AI Article Synopsis
- Concentrated solutions of short DNA oligomers can form liquid crystal structures through self-assembly, driven by the aggregation of complementary strands that can pair and polymerize.
- These liquid crystal microdomains function as fluid microreactors where specific molecular interactions at the ends of duplexes can catalyze chemical ligation reactions.
- The process of ligation is enhanced by the presence of condensing agents, leading to a self-sustaining cycle that promotes the growth of DNA chains, offering insight into the potential abiotic origins of nucleic acids.
Article Abstract
It has been observed that concentrated solutions of short DNA oligomers develop liquid crystal ordering as the result of a hierarchically structured supramolecular self-assembly. In mixtures of oligomers with various degree of complementarity, liquid crystal microdomains are formed via the selective aggregation of those oligomers that have a sufficient degree of duplexing and propensity for physical polymerization. Here we show that such domains act as fluid and permeable microreactors in which the order-stabilized molecular contacts between duplex terminals serve as physical templates for their chemical ligation. In the presence of abiotic condensing agents, liquid crystal ordering markedly enhances ligation efficacy, thereby enhancing its own phase stability. The coupling between order-templated ligation and selectivity provided by supramolecular ordering enables an autocatalytic cycle favouring the growth of DNA chains, up to biologically relevant lengths, from few-base long oligomers. This finding suggests a novel scenario for the abiotic origin of nucleic acids.
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| http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4366493 | PMC |
| http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ncomms7424 | DOI Listing |
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