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Abiotic ligation of DNA oligomers templated by their liquid crystal ordering

Author

Listed:
  • Tommaso P. Fraccia

    (Università di Milano)

  • Gregory P. Smith

    (University of Colorado)

  • Giuliano Zanchetta

    (Università di Milano)

  • Elvezia Paraboschi

    (Università di Milano)

  • Youngwooo Yi

    (University of Colorado)

  • David M. Walba

    (Soft Materials Research Center, University of Colorado)

  • Giorgio Dieci

    (Università di Parma)

  • Noel A. Clark

    (University of Colorado)

  • Tommaso Bellini

    (Università di Milano)

Abstract

It has been observed that concentrated solutions of short DNA oligomers develop liquid crystal ordering as the result of a hierarchically structured supramolecular self-assembly. In mixtures of oligomers with various degree of complementarity, liquid crystal microdomains are formed via the selective aggregation of those oligomers that have a sufficient degree of duplexing and propensity for physical polymerization. Here we show that such domains act as fluid and permeable microreactors in which the order-stabilized molecular contacts between duplex terminals serve as physical templates for their chemical ligation. In the presence of abiotic condensing agents, liquid crystal ordering markedly enhances ligation efficacy, thereby enhancing its own phase stability. The coupling between order-templated ligation and selectivity provided by supramolecular ordering enables an autocatalytic cycle favouring the growth of DNA chains, up to biologically relevant lengths, from few-base long oligomers. This finding suggests a novel scenario for the abiotic origin of nucleic acids.

Suggested Citation

  • Tommaso P. Fraccia & Gregory P. Smith & Giuliano Zanchetta & Elvezia Paraboschi & Youngwooo Yi & David M. Walba & Giorgio Dieci & Noel A. Clark & Tommaso Bellini, 2015. "Abiotic ligation of DNA oligomers templated by their liquid crystal ordering," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 6(1), pages 1-8, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:6:y:2015:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms7424
    DOI: 10.1038/ncomms7424
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    Cited by:

    1. Tommaso P. Fraccia & Nicolas Martin, 2023. "Non-enzymatic oligonucleotide ligation in coacervate protocells sustains compartment-content coupling," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-12, December.

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