Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Folding and Catalysis Near Life’s Origin: Support for Fe2+ as a Dominant Divalent Cation

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Prebiotic Chemistry and Chemical Evolution of Nucleic Acids

Part of the book series: Nucleic Acids and Molecular Biology ((NUCLEIC,volume 35))

Abstract

There is broad consensus that during and immediately following the origin of life, RNA was the single biopolymer or was among a small group of cooperating biopolymers. During the origin of life, the Archean Earth was anoxic; Fe2+ was abundant and relatively benign. We hypothesize that RNA used Fe2+ as a cofactor instead of, or along with, Mg2+ during the inception and early phases of biology, until the Great Oxidation Event (GOE). In this model, RNA participated in a metal substitution during the GOE, whereby Mg2+ replaced Fe2+ as the dominant RNA cofactor. A GOE-induced Fe2+ to Mg2+ substitution predicts that under ‘early Earth’ (anoxic) conditions, Fe2+ can participate in a variety of functions, including mediation of RNA folding and catalysis by ribozymes and proteins. Understanding the influence of Fe2+ on nucleic acid structure and function could provide an important link between the geological record and the ancestral biological world. This review focuses on experimental work investigating the interactions and functions of RNA and nucleic acid processing proteins with Fe2+ under anoxic, early Earth conditions.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 129.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Aguirre JD, Culotta VC (2012) Battles with iron: manganese in oxidative stress protection. J Biol Chem 287:13541–13548

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Anbar AD (2008) Oceans. Elements and evolution. Science 322:1481–1483

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Anjem A, Varghese S, Imlay JA (2009) Manganese import is a key element of the oxyr response to hydrogen peroxide in Escherichia coli. Mol Microbiol 72:844–858

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Athavale SS, Petrov AS, Hsiao C, Watkins D, Prickett CD, Gossett JJ, Lie L, Bowman JC, O'Neill E, Bernier CR et al (2012) RNA folding and catalysis mediated by iron (II). PLoS One 7:e38024

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Atkins JF, Gesteland RF, Cech TR (eds) (2011) RNA worlds: from life’s origins to diversity in gene regulation. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, Cold Spring Harbor, NY

    Google Scholar 

  • Barton L (2005) Structural and functional relationships in prokaryotes. Springer, Berlin

    Google Scholar 

  • Berens C, Streicher B, Schroeder R, Hillen W (1998) Visualizing metal-ion-binding sites in group I introns by iron(II)-mediated fenton reactions. Chem Biol 5:163–175

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bock CW, Markham GD, Katz AK, Glusker JP (2006) The arrangement of first- and second-shell water molecules around metal ions: effects of charge and size. Theor Chem Accounts 115:100–112

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bowman JC, Lenz TK, Hud NV, Williams LD (2012) Cations in charge: magnesium ions in RNA folding and catalysis. Curr Opin Struct Biol 22:262–272

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Brion P, Westhof E (1997) Hierarchy and dynamics of RNA folding. Annu Rev Biophys Biomol Struct 26:113–137

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Brown ID (1988) What factors determine cation coordination numbers. Acta Crystallogr Sect B 44:545–553

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brown ID (1992) Chemical and steric constraints in inorganic solids. Acta Crystallogr Sect B 48:553–572

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Burkhoff AM, Tullius TD (1987) The unusual conformation adopted by the adenine tracts in kinetoplast DNA. Cell 48:935–943

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Butcher SE (2011) The spliceosome and its metal ions. Met Ions Life Sci 9:235–251

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cate JH, Gooding AR, Podell E, Zhou K, Golden BL, Kundrot CE, Cech TR, Doudna JA (1996) Crystal structure of a group I ribozyme domain: principles of RNA packing. Science 273:1678–1685

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Cate JH, Hanna RL, Doudna JA (1997) A magnesium ion core at the heart of a ribozyme domain. Nat Struct Biol 4:553–558

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Celander DW, Cech TR (1990) Iron (II)-ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid catalyzed cleavage of RNA and DNA oligonucleotides: similar reactivity toward single-and double-stranded forms. Biochemistry 29:1355–1361

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Chu BC, Orgel LE (1985) Nonenzymatic sequence-specific cleavage of single-stranded DNA. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 82:963–967

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cole PE, Yang SK, Crothers DM (1972) Conformational changes of transfer ribonucleic acid. Equilibrium phase diagrams. Biochemistry 11:4358–4368

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cotruvo JA, Stubbe J (2011) Class I ribonucleotide reductases: metallocofactor assembly and repair in vitro and in vivo. Annu Rev Biochem 80:733–767

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Deamer D, Weber AL (2010) Bioenergetics and life’s origins. Cold Spring Harb Perspect Biol 2:a004929

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Derry LA (2015) Causes and consequences of mid-proterozoic anoxia. Geophys Res Lett 42:8538–8546

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Dervan P (1986) Design of sequence-specific DNA binding molecules. Science 232:464–471

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Doherty AJ, Dafforn TR (2000) Nick recognition by DNA ligases. J Mol Biol 296:43–56

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Doublie S, Tabor S, Long AM, Richardson CC, Ellenberger T (1998) Crystal structure of a bacteriophage T7 DNA replication complex at 2.2 Å resolution. Nature 391:251–258

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Draper DE (2004) A guide to ions and RNA structure. RNA 10:335–343

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Drever JI (1974) Geochemical model for the origin of precambrian banded iron formations. GSA Bull 85:1099–1106

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Dupont CL, Yang S, Palenik B, Bourne PE (2006) Modern proteomes contain putative imprints of ancient shifts in trace metal geochemistry. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 103:17822–17827

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Dupont CL, Butcher A, Valas RE, Bourne PE, Caetano-Anolles G (2010) History of biological metal utilization inferred through phylogenomic analysis of protein structures. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 107:10567–10572

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ellenberger T, Tomkinson AE (2008) Eukaryotic DNA ligases: structural and functional insights. Annu Rev Biochem 77:313

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Hanna R, Doudna JA (2000) Metal ions in ribozyme folding and catalysis. Curr Opin Chem Biol 4:166–170

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Harel A, Bromberg Y, Falkowski PG, Bhattacharya D (2014) Evolutionary history of redox metal-binding domains across the tree of life. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 111:7042–7047

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hazen RM, Ferry JM (2010) Mineral evolution: mineralogy in the fourth dimension. Elements 6:9–12

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Holland HD (1973) The oceans; a possible source of iron in iron-formations. Econ Geol 68:1169–1172

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Holland H (1984) The chemical evolution of the atmosphere and oceans. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ

    Google Scholar 

  • Holland HD (2006) The oxygenation of the atmosphere and oceans. Philos Trans R Soc B Biol Sci 361:903–915

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Holland DM, Jacobs SS, Jenkins A (2003) Modelling the ocean circulation beneath the ross ice shelf. Antarct Sci 15:13–23

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Honda K, Smith MA, Zhu X, Baus D, Merrick WC, Tartakoff AM, Hattier T, Harris PL, Siedlak SL, Fujioka H et al (2005) Ribosomal RNA in Alzheimer disease is oxidized by bound redox-active iron. J Biol Chem 280:20978–20986

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hsiao C, Tannenbaum M, VanDeusen H, Hershkovitz E, Perng G, Tannenbaum A, Williams LD (2008) In: Hud N (ed) Nucleic acid metal ion interactions. The Royal Society of Chemistry, London, pp 1–35

    Google Scholar 

  • Hsiao C, Chou I-C, Okafor CD, Bowman JC, O’Neill EB, Athavale SS, Petrov AS, Hud NV, Wartell RM, Harvey SC et al (2013) Iron(II) plus RNA can catalyze electron transfer. Nat Chem 5:525–528

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Iyengar V, Woittiez J (1988) Trace elements in human clinical specimens: evaluation of literature data to identify reference values. Clin Chem 34:474–481

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Izawa MRM, Nesbitt HW, MacRae ND, Hoffman EL (2010) Composition and evolution of the early oceans: evidence from the tagish lake meteorite. Earth Planet Sci Lett 298:443–449

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Johnson CM, Beard BL, Roden EE (2008) The iron isotope fingerprints of redox and biogeochemical cycling in modern and ancient earth. Annu Rev Earth Planet Sci 36:457–493

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Johnson-Buck AE, McDowell SE, Walter NG (2011) Metal ions: supporting actors in the playbook of small ribozymes. Met Ions Life Sci 9:175–196

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Jones C, Nomosatryo S, Crowe SA, Bjerrum CJ, Canfield DE (2015) Iron oxides, divalent cations, silica, and the early earth phosphorus crisis. Geology 43:135–138

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Josephy PD, Eling T, Mason RP (1982) The horseradish peroxidase-catalyzed oxidation of 3,5,3',5'-tetramethylbenzidine. Free radical and charge-transfer complex intermediates. J Biol Chem 257:3669–3675

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kean JM, White SA, Draper DE (1985) Detection of high-affinity intercalator sites in a ribosomal RNA fragment by the affinity cleavage intercalator methidiumpropyl-EDTA-Iron(II). Biochemistry 24:5062–5070

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Khan MA, Walden WE, Goss DJ, Theil EC (2009) Direct Fe2+ sensing by iron-responsive messenger RNA: repressor complexes weakens binding. J Biol Chem 284:30122–30128

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Kozlowski H, Kolkowska P, Watly J, Krzywoszynska K, Potocki S (2014) General aspects of metal toxicity. Curr Med Chem 21:3721–3740

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lanier KA, Petrov AS, Williams LD (2017) The central symbiosis of molecular biology. J Mol Evol 85:8–13

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Latham JA, Cech TR (1989) Defining the inside and outside of a catalytic RNA molecule. Science 245:276–282

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Leclerc F (2010) Hammerhead ribozymes: true metal or nucleobase catalysis? Where is the catalytic power from? Molecules 15:5389

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lee JY, Chang C, Song HK, Moon J, Yang JK, Kim H-K, Kwon S-T, Suh SW (2000) Crystal structure of Nad(+)-dependent DNA ligase: modular architecture and functional implications. EMBO J 19:1119–1129

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Lilley DMJ (2011) Mechanisms of RNA catalysis. Philos Trans R Soc B Biol Sci 366:2910–2917

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lykke-Andersen J, Christiansen J (1998) The C-terminal carboxy group of T7 RNA polymerase ensures efficient magnesium ion-dependent catalysis. Nucleic Acids Res 26:5630–5635

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Lyons TW, Reinhard CT, Planavsky NJ (2014) The rise of oxygen in earth’s early ocean and atmosphere. Nature 506:307–315

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ma J, Haldar S, Khan MA, Sharma SD, Merrick WC, Theil EC, Goss DJ (2012) Fe2+ binds iron responsive element-RNA, selectively changing protein-binding affinities and regulating mRNA repression and activation. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 109:8417–8422

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Maguire ME, Cowan JA (2002) Magnesium chemistry and biochemistry [review]. BioMetals 15:203–210

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Martin JE, Imlay JA (2011) The alternative aerobic ribonucleotide reductase of Escherichia coli, Nrdef, is a manganese-dependent enzyme that enables cell replication during periods of iron starvation. Mol Microbiol 80:319–334

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Merino EJ, Wilkinson KA, Coughlan JL, Weeks KM (2005) RNA structure analysis at single nucleotide resolution by selective 2'-hydroxyl acylation and primer extension (shape). J Am Chem Soc 127:4223–4231

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Misra VK, Draper DE (1998) On the role of magnesium ions in RNA stability. Biopolymers 48:113–135

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Moser HE, Dervan PB (1987) Sequence-specific cleavage of double helical DNA by triple helix formation. Science 238:645–650

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Nunomura A, Perry G, Pappolla MA, Wade R, Hirai K, Chiba S, Smith MA (1999) RNA oxidation is a prominent feature of vulnerable neurons in Alzheimer’s disease. J Neurosci 19:1959–1964

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Okafor CD, Lanier KA, Petrov AS, Athavale SS, Bowman JC, Hud NV, Williams LD (2017) Iron mediates catalysis of nucleic acid processing enzymes: support for Fe(II) as a cofactor before the great oxidation event. Nucleic Acids Res 45:3634–3642

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Penedo JC, Wilson TJ, Jayasena SD, Khvorova A, Lilley DM (2004) Folding of the natural hammerhead ribozyme is enhanced by interaction of auxiliary elements. RNA 10:880–888

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Petrov AS, Bowman JC, Harvey SC, Williams LD (2011) Bidentate RNA-magnesium clamps: on the origin of the special role of magnesium in RNA folding. RNA 17:291–297

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Petrov A, Bernier C, Hsiao C, Okafor CD, Tannenbaum E, Stern J, Gaucher E, Schneider D, Hud NV, Harvey SC et al (2012) RNA-magnesium-protein interactions in large ribosomal subunit. J Phys Chem B 116:8113–8120

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Piccinelli P, Samuelsson T (2007) Evolution of the iron-responsive element. RNA 13:952–966

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Popovic M, Fliss PS, Ditzler MA (2015) In vitro evolution of distinct self-cleaving ribozymes in diverse environments. Nucleic Acids Res 43:3789–3801

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Powers T, Noller H (1995) Hydroxyl radical footprinting of ribosomal proteins on 16S rRNA. RNA 1:194

    PubMed  PubMed Central  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Price MA, Tullius TD (1993) How the structure of an adenine tract depends on sequence context: a new model for the structure of Tnan DNA sequences. Biochemistry 32:127–136

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Prousek J (2007) Fenton chemistry in biology and medicine. Pure Appl Chem 79:2325–2338

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Pyle AM (1993) Ribozymes: a distinct class of metalloenzymes. Science 261:709–714

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rashin AA, Honig B (1985) Reevaluation of the born model of ion hydration. J Phys Chem 89:5588–5593

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Reinhard CT, Planavsky NJ, Gill BC, Ozaki K, Robbins LJ, Lyons TW, Fischer WW, Wang C, Cole DB, Konhauser KO (2017) Evolution of the global phosphorus cycle. Nature 541:386–389

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rittié L, Perbal B (2008) Enzymes used in molecular biology: a useful guide. J Cell Commun Signal 2:25–45

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Robertson MP, Scott WG (2007) The structural basis of ribozyme-catalyzed RNA assembly. Science 315:1549–1553

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Scott WG (2007) Ribozymes. Curr Opin Struct Biol 17:280–286

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Shcherbakova I, Mitra S (2009) Hydroxyl-radical footprinting to probe equilibrium changes in RNA tertiary structure. Methods Enzymol 468:31–46

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Smith MA, Zhu X, Tabaton M, Liu G, McKeel DW Jr, Cohen ML, Wang X, Siedlak SL, Dwyer BE, Hayashi T et al (2010) Increased iron and free radical generation in preclinical alzheimer disease and mild cognitive impairment. J Alzheimers Dis 19:363–372

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Steitz TA (1999) DNA polymerases: structural diversity and common mechanisms. J Biol Chem 274:17395–17398

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Theil EC, Goss DJ (2009) Living with iron (and oxygen): questions and answers about iron homeostasis. Chem Rev 109:4568–4579

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Torrents E, Aloy P, Gibert I, Rodriguez-Trelles F (2002) Ribonucleotide reductases: divergent evolution of an ancient enzyme. J Mol Evol 55:138–152

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Tullius TD, Dombroski BA (1985) Iron (II) EDTA used to measure the helical twist along any DNA molecule. Science 230:679–681

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Tullius TD, Greenbaum JA (2005) Mapping nucleic acid structure by hydroxyl radical cleavage. Curr Opin Chem Biol 9:127–134

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ushizaka S, Kuma K, Suzuki K (2011) Effects of Mn and Fe on growth of a coastal marine diatom Talassiosira weissflogii in the presence of precipitated Fe(III) hydroxide and EDTA-Fe(III) complex. Fish Sci 77:411–424

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Uudsemaa M, Tamm T (2004) Calculation of hydration enthalpies of aqueous transition metal cations using two coordination shells and central ion substitution. Chem Phys Lett 400:54–58

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Vary CP, Vournakis JN (1984) RNA structure analysis using methidiumpropyl-EDTA.Fe(II): a base-pair-specific RNA structure probe. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 81:6978–6982

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Vicens Q, Gooding AR, Laederach A, Cech TR (2007) Local RNA structural changes induced by crystallization are revealed by shape. RNA 13:536–548

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Wilkinson KA, Merino EJ, Weeks KM (2005) RNA shape chemistry reveals nonhierarchical interactions dominate equilibrium structural transitions in tRNA(Asp) transcripts. J Am Chem Soc 127:4659–4667

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wilkinson KA, Gorelick RJ, Vasa SM, Guex N, Rein A, Mathews DH, Giddings MC, Weeks KM (2008) High-throughput shape analysis reveals structures in Hiv-1 genomic RNA strongly conserved across distinct biological states. PLoS Biol 6:883–899

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wolfe-Simon F, Starovoytov V, Reinfelder JR, Schofield O, Falkowski PG (2006) Localization and role of manganese superoxide dismutase in a marine diatom. Plant Physiol 142:1701–1709

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Wulfsberg G (1991) Principles of descriptive inorganic chemistry. University Science Books, Sausalito, CA

    Google Scholar 

  • Yang W, Lee JY, Nowotny M (2006) Making and breaking nucleic acids: two-Mg2+-ion catalysis and substrate specificity. Mol Cell 22:5–13

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Yin YW, Steitz TA (2004) The structural mechanism of translocation and helicase activity in T7 RNA polymerase. Cell 116:393–404

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Zheng H, Shabalin IG, Handing KB, Bujnicki JM, Minor W (2015) Magnesium-binding architectures in RNA crystal structures: validation, binding preferences, classification and motif detection. Nucleic Acid Res 43:3789–3801

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This work was supported in part by National Aeronautics and Space Administration grants NNX16AJ28G and NNX16AJ29G.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Chemistry and Biochemistry, NSF-NASA Center for Chemical Evolution, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA

    C. Denise Okafor, Jessica C. Bowman, Nicholas V. Hud & Loren Dean Williams

  2. School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA

    Jennifer B. Glass

Authors
  1. C. Denise Okafor
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Jessica C. Bowman
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Nicholas V. Hud
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Jennifer B. Glass
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Loren Dean Williams
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Loren Dean Williams .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. NSF-NASA Center for Chemical Evolution, School of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA; Unidad de Bioquímica y Biología Molecular, Dept. Biologia de Sistemas, Universidad de Alcala, Madrid, Spain

    César Menor-Salván

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2018 Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Okafor, C.D., Bowman, J.C., Hud, N.V., Glass, J.B., Williams, L.D. (2018). Folding and Catalysis Near Life’s Origin: Support for Fe2+ as a Dominant Divalent Cation. In: Menor-Salván , C. (eds) Prebiotic Chemistry and Chemical Evolution of Nucleic Acids. Nucleic Acids and Molecular Biology, vol 35. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-93584-3_8

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation