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SUMMARY:On the origin of RNA and peptide synthesis: clues from biology and
  prebiotic chemistry - John D Sutherland\,  Manchester
DTSTART:20091127T161500Z
DTEND:20091127T180000Z
UID:TALK21589@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Scientific Meetings Co-ordinator
DESCRIPTION:Recent chemical studies suggest that activated nucleotides\nco
 uld have formed prebiotically\, however the oligomerisation of these\nnucl
 eotides to RNA has seemed problematic because of the lack of control\nof l
 inkage isomer formation. A prebiotically plausible protection reaction\nwh
 ich potentially enables the exclusive formation of 3’\,5’-linked short
 \noligomers will be described.\nAnalysis of the genetic code provides clue
 s about the nature of RNA\nsynthesis\, and suggests that RNA was first rep
 licated by ligation of short\noligomers. Our results suggest that the olig
 omeric products of the\nprebiotic chemistry we have uncovered will be idea
 l building blocks for\nRNA. In one variant of the chemistry\, short peptid
 es are likely\nco-products suggesting an early origin for peptide synthesi
 s in the RNA\nworld.
LOCATION:Max Perutz Lecture Theatre\, Medical Research Council (MRC) (MRC 
 Laboratory of Molecular Biol
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