Threose nucleic acid

Threose nucleic acid

Threose nucleic acid (TNA) is a polymer similar to DNA or RNA but differing in the composition of its "backbone". TNA is not known to occur in existing life on Earth.

DNA and RNA have a deoxyribose and ribose sugar backbone, respectively, whereas TNA's backbone is composed of repeating threose units linked by phosphodiester bonds. The threose molecule is easier to assemble than ribose making it a possible precursor to RNA.

DNA-TNA hybrid chains have been made in the laboratory using DNA polymerase.

TNA can specifically base pair with RNA and DNA; this capability and chemical simplicity suggests that TNA could have preceded RNA as genetic material.

ee also

*Abiogenesis
*Glycerol nucleic acid
*Peptide nucleic acid

External links

*" [http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg17924052.500.html Was simple TNA the first nucleic acid on Earth to carry a genetic code?] ", "New Scientist"
*: [http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/290/5495/1306 ORIGIN OF LIFE: A Simpler Nucleic Acid] ", Leslie Orgel

References

*cite journal
title=A Simpler Nucleic Acid
last=Orgel
first=Leslie
journal=Science
year=2000
month=Nov
pages=1306–1307
volume=290
issue=5495
doi=10.1126/science.290.5495.1306

* cite journal
title=Modified nucleic acids on display
last=Watt
first=Gregory
journal=Nature Chemical Biology
year=2005
month=Feb
url=http://www.nature.com/nchembio/journal/vaop/nprelaunch/full/nchembio005.html
doi = 10.1038/nchembio005

* cite journal
title=Chemical etiology of nucleic acid structure: the alpha-threofuranosyl-(3'->2') oligonucleotide system.
last=Schoning
first=K
coauthors=Scholz P; Guntha S; Wu X; Krishnamurthy R; Eschenmoser A
journal=Science
year=2000
month=Nov
pmid = 11082060
doi=10.1126/science.290.5495.1347


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