Phosphoribosylphosphate and phosphoribosylnicotinate pairing with phosphoribosylamine at the origin of the RNA world

Abstract

The gap between prebiotic chemistry and the RNA origin of life lies in the nature of the pre-ribonucleotides that initiated replication-like activity. The present paper illustrates how the constraints for self-catalytic synthesis of the building blocks point to ionic pairing of the first pre-ribonucleotides and point to a central role for nicotinate.