Life on Minerals: Binding Behaviors of Oligonucleotides on Zirconium Silicate and Its Inhibitory Activity for the Self-Cleavage of Hammerhead Ribozyme.

On the other hand, the surface area of montmorillonite is much greater than that of zirconium silicate and thus, the ASBVd(-):HHR binds on montmorillonite at a much lower density than on zirconium silicate; however, self-cleavage was also deactivated on montmorillonite. Since zirconium silicate is one of the oldest minerals on the ancient Earth, this study suggests that the role of minerals may have been important for the chemical evolution of RNA molecules from the very beginning of water emergence on the Hadean Earth. Keywords: hammerhead ribozyme; chemical evolution; mineral; adsorption; Hadean Earth; zirconium silicate; montmorillonite; Aerosil; sepiolite EN hammerhead ribozyme chemical evolution mineral adsorption Hadean Earth zirconium silicate montmorillonite Aerosil sepiolite 1689 16 11/17/22 20221101 NES 221101 1. The four minerals selected were aerosil silica, zirconium silicate, sepiolite, and montmorillonite, each of which are of prebiotic interest and/or possess unique characteristics. [Extracted from the article]