The RNA World hypothesis suggests that RNA, or a proto-RNA, existed in an early form of life that had not yet developed the ability to synthesize protein enzymes. This hypothesis, by some interpretations, implies that nucleic acid polymers were the first polymers of life, and must have therefore spontaneously formed from simple molecular building blocks in the "prebiotic soup." Although prebiotic chemists have searched for decades for a process by which RNA can be made from plausible prebiotic reactions, numerous problems persist that stand in the way of a chemically-sound model for the spontaneous generation of an RNA World (e.g., strand-cyclization, heterogeneous backbones, non-selective ligation of activated nucleotides). The Molecular Midwife hypothesis, proposed by Hud and Anet in 2000, provides a possible solution to several problems associated with the assembly of the first nucleic acids. In this hypothesis, nucleic acid base pairs are assembled by small, planar molecules that resemble molecules which are known today to intercalate the base pairs of nucleic acid duplexes. Thus, the validity and merits of the Molecular Midwife hypothesis can be, to some extent, explored by studying the effects of intercalation on the non-covalent assembly of nucleic acids.
In this thesis, I explore the role of the sugar-phosphate backbone in dictating the structure and thermodynamics of nucleic acid intercalation by using 2′,5′-linked RNA intercalation as a model system of non-natural nucleic acid intercalation. The solution structure of an intercalator-bound 2′,5′ RNA duplex reveals structural and thermodynamic aspects of intercalation that provide insight into the origin of the nearest-neighbor exclusion principle, a principle that is uniformly obeyed upon the intercalation of natural (i.e. 3′,5′-linked) RNA and DNA. I also demonstrate the ability of intercalator-mediated assembly to circumvent the strand-cyclization problem, a problem that otherwise greatly limits the polymerization of short oligonucleotides into long polymers. Together, the data presented in this thesis illustrate the important role that the nucleic acid backbone plays in governing the thermodynamics of intercalation, and provide support for the proposed role of intercalator-mediated assembly in the prebiotic formation of nucleic acids.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:GATECH/oai:smartech.gatech.edu:1853/33937 |
| Date | 06 April 2009 |
| Creators | Horowitz, Eric D. |
| Publisher | Georgia Institute of Technology |
| Source Sets | Georgia Tech Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Archive |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Dissertation |
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