During the transition from prebiotic chemistry to biology, a period of solution-phase, non-enzymatic activation of (oligo)nucleotides must have occurred, and accordingly, a mechanism for phosphate activation must have existed. Herein, we detail results of an investigation into prebiotic phosphate activation chemistry using simple, prebiotically available nitriles whose reactivity is increased by Cu²⁺ ions. Furthermore, although Cu²⁺ ions are known to catalyse the hydrolysis of phosphodiester bonds, we found this deleterious activity to be almost completely suppressed by inclusion of amino acids or dipeptides, which may suggest a productive relationship between protein and RNA from the outset.

中文翻译：

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使用 Cu(ii) 催化调节腈的反应性——核苷酸的潜在益生元活化†

在从益生元化学向生物学的转变过程中，一定发生了（寡）核苷酸的溶液相、非酶活化的时期，因此，磷酸盐活化的机制一定存在。在此，我们详细介绍了使用简单、益生元可用的腈类对益生元磷酸盐活化化学的研究结果，该腈类的反应性因 Cu ²⁺离子而增加。此外，尽管已知 Cu ²⁺离子可催化磷酸二酯键的水解，但我们发现这种有害活性几乎完全被氨基酸或二肽的抑制所抑制，这可能从一开始就表明蛋白质和 RNA 之间存在生产性关系。