Sustainability and Chaos in the Abiotic Polymerization of 3',5' Cyclic Guanosine Monophosphate: The Role of Aggregation

Polymerization of 3',5' cyclic guanosine monophosphate (3',5' cGMP) was previously reported to afford short RNA sequences from a plausible mildly activated prebiotic precursor in a non-enzymatic and template-free manner. In the current paper we analyze the reaction with PAGE as well as by infrared micro-and nanospectroscopy on time scales not considered before. We provide evidence that a preliminary oligomerization step in drystate allows for a continued synthesis of RNA oligomers even in the presence of subsequently added water. On a longer time scale, the oligomerization yield oscillates in an apparently chaotic fashion hinting at the importance of some non-reversible phase-separation processes on the experimentally observed outcome of the polymerization/degradation chemistries. The long-lasting (hundreds of hours) intrinsic sustainability and resilience of the process gives a robust prebiotic potential to this unique oligomerization reaction, which could lead to the very first oligonucleotide sequences on the primordial Earth.