Self-Replicating Nucleic Acids

该项目将继续致力于聚合物的化学合成，这种聚合物既可以按其序列携带信息，又可以在不使用酶的情况下化学地复制这些信息。这些实验的灵感来自于理解地球生命起源过程中携带信息的分子（如RNA）的出现。基本的化学原理被用来设计可能具有化学复制能力的RNA和DNA的简单变体，例如一类核酸，其中羟基亲核试剂被氨基取代，氨基是一种更强的亲核试剂。这种变化，加上使用更活跃的离去基和核碱基，增强双相稳定性，应该导致更快的化学复制模板序列。该项目还将探索通过使用简单的催化剂，或通过定位到矿物表面或膜泡来加速复制的方法。有了这个奖项，有机和大分子化学项目和基因和基因组系统集群项目支持麻省总医院分子生物学系的Jack W. Szostak教授的研究。绍斯塔克教授的研究旨在了解早期地球上生命的起源，这是一个一直引起公众极大兴趣的话题。因为这项工作在一个非常基础的层面上探索了化学和生物学之间的联系，它也引起了学生们的极大兴趣，并将有助于吸引年轻人对化学科学感兴趣。

This project will continue work on the chemical synthesis of polymers that can both carry information in their sequence and replicate that information chemically without using enzymes. These experiments are inspired by the desire to understand the emergence of information carrying molecules such as RNA during the origin of life on earth. Basic chemical principles are used to design simple variants of RNA and DNA that may be capable of chemical replication, such as a family of nucleic acids in which the hydroxyl nucleophile is replaced with an amino group, which is a stronger nucleophile. This change, coupled with the use of more active leaving groups as well as nucleobases that enhance duplex stability, should lead to faster chemical copying of template sequences. The project will also explore ways in which replication may be accelerated through the use of simple catalysts, or through localization to mineral surfaces or membrane vesicles. With this award, the Organic and Macromolecular Chemistry Program and the Genes and Genome Systems Cluster program are supporting the research of Professor Jack W. Szostak of the Department of Molecular Biology at Massachusetts General Hospital. Professor Szostak's research is aimed at understanding the origin of life on the early earth, a topic that has always attracted great public interest. Because this work explores the connection between chemistry and biology at a very fundamental level, it is also of great interest to students, and will help to attract young people to the chemical sciences.