English

A Self-Replicating Peptide Nucleic Acid

Molecular Networks 2011-12-22 v1 Populations and Evolution

Abstract

We report on a case of autocatalytic feedback in a template directed synthesis of a self-complementary hexa-PNA from two trimeric building blocks. The course of the reaction was monitored in the presence of increasing initial concentrations of product by means of RP-HPLC. Kinetic modeling with the SimFit program revealed parabolic growth according to the so-called square-root law. The observed template effect, as well as the rate of the ligation, was significantly influenced by factors like nucleophilic catalysts, pH value, and uncharged co-solvents. Systematic optimization of the reaction conditions allowed us to increase the autocatalytic efficiency of the system by two orders of magnitude.

Cite

@article{arxiv.1112.4952,
  title  = {A Self-Replicating Peptide Nucleic Acid},
  author = {Tobias A. Plöger and Günter von Kiedrowski},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1112.4952},
  year   = {2011}
}

Comments

36 pages

R2 v1 2026-06-21T19:55:02.720Z