Reproducible Ala-Gly oligomerization catalyzed by the natural Borate colemanite in prebiotic conditions
Abstract The abiogenesis of complex peptides is a yet unsolved problem concerning the origin of life, as it is unclear how specific amino acid sequences could be formed in the absence of a regulation mechanism. Crystalline minerals could have provided template scaffolds to sustain replicable oligome...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Nature Portfolio
2025-08-01
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| Series: | Scientific Reports |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-14072-2 |
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| author | Isabella Rimoldi Giorgio Facchetti Lucia Feni Giacomo Diego Gatta Paolo Lotti Silvia Rizzato Michael S. Christodoulou Lucia Silvestrini Leonardo Lo Presti |
| author_facet | Isabella Rimoldi Giorgio Facchetti Lucia Feni Giacomo Diego Gatta Paolo Lotti Silvia Rizzato Michael S. Christodoulou Lucia Silvestrini Leonardo Lo Presti |
| author_sort | Isabella Rimoldi |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract The abiogenesis of complex peptides is a yet unsolved problem concerning the origin of life, as it is unclear how specific amino acid sequences could be formed in the absence of a regulation mechanism. Crystalline minerals could have provided template scaffolds to sustain replicable oligomerization processes. We demonstrate that the natural organophilic borate colemanite, CaB3O4(OH)3·H2O, fosters consistent Gly-Ala oligomerization into AG8, G7AG and G7GA strands with well-defined primary sequence (8%, 47% and 45% respectively) from activated glycine and alanine as N-carboxyanhydrides. These Gly-rich sequences are mechanically flexible and may have played a pivotal structural role in driving amino acid loops in ancient polypeptides. In fact, they occur repeatedly in proteins that exploit either structural or transport functions, which belong to ancestral organisms, including Cyanobacteria and Thermoproteota. Our results demonstrate that the consistent synthesis of short well-defined amino acid sequences is possible in a few days of incubation under mild conditions in a prebiotically plausible environment. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-22c63da7535446c087ce0dcb5e58d447 |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2045-2322 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-08-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Scientific Reports |
| spelling | doaj-art-22c63da7535446c087ce0dcb5e58d4472025-08-20T03:04:38ZengNature PortfolioScientific Reports2045-23222025-08-0115111210.1038/s41598-025-14072-2Reproducible Ala-Gly oligomerization catalyzed by the natural Borate colemanite in prebiotic conditionsIsabella Rimoldi0Giorgio Facchetti1Lucia Feni2Giacomo Diego Gatta3Paolo Lotti4Silvia Rizzato5Michael S. Christodoulou6Lucia Silvestrini7Leonardo Lo Presti8Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Università degli Studi di MilanoDepartment of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Università degli Studi di MilanoDepartment of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Università degli Studi di MilanoDepartment of Earth Sciences “Ardito Desio”, Università degli Studi di MilanoDepartment of Earth Sciences “Ardito Desio”, Università degli Studi di MilanoDepartment of Chemistry, Università degli Studi di MilanoDepartment of Food, Environmental and Nutritional Sciences, Università degli Studi di MilanoDG for LifeDepartment of Chemistry, Università degli Studi di MilanoAbstract The abiogenesis of complex peptides is a yet unsolved problem concerning the origin of life, as it is unclear how specific amino acid sequences could be formed in the absence of a regulation mechanism. Crystalline minerals could have provided template scaffolds to sustain replicable oligomerization processes. We demonstrate that the natural organophilic borate colemanite, CaB3O4(OH)3·H2O, fosters consistent Gly-Ala oligomerization into AG8, G7AG and G7GA strands with well-defined primary sequence (8%, 47% and 45% respectively) from activated glycine and alanine as N-carboxyanhydrides. These Gly-rich sequences are mechanically flexible and may have played a pivotal structural role in driving amino acid loops in ancient polypeptides. In fact, they occur repeatedly in proteins that exploit either structural or transport functions, which belong to ancestral organisms, including Cyanobacteria and Thermoproteota. Our results demonstrate that the consistent synthesis of short well-defined amino acid sequences is possible in a few days of incubation under mild conditions in a prebiotically plausible environment.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-14072-2 |
| spellingShingle | Isabella Rimoldi Giorgio Facchetti Lucia Feni Giacomo Diego Gatta Paolo Lotti Silvia Rizzato Michael S. Christodoulou Lucia Silvestrini Leonardo Lo Presti Reproducible Ala-Gly oligomerization catalyzed by the natural Borate colemanite in prebiotic conditions Scientific Reports |
| title | Reproducible Ala-Gly oligomerization catalyzed by the natural Borate colemanite in prebiotic conditions |
| title_full | Reproducible Ala-Gly oligomerization catalyzed by the natural Borate colemanite in prebiotic conditions |
| title_fullStr | Reproducible Ala-Gly oligomerization catalyzed by the natural Borate colemanite in prebiotic conditions |
| title_full_unstemmed | Reproducible Ala-Gly oligomerization catalyzed by the natural Borate colemanite in prebiotic conditions |
| title_short | Reproducible Ala-Gly oligomerization catalyzed by the natural Borate colemanite in prebiotic conditions |
| title_sort | reproducible ala gly oligomerization catalyzed by the natural borate colemanite in prebiotic conditions |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-14072-2 |
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