Petkowski Janusz J, Seager Sara, Seager Maxwell D, Bains William, Marinus Nittert, Poizat Mael, Plumet Chad, van Wiltenburg Jim, Visser Ton, Poelert Martin
Faculty of Environmental Engineering, Wroclaw University of Science and Technology, 50-370 Wroclaw, Poland.
JJ Scientific, Mazowieckie, Warsaw 02-792, Poland.
Sci Adv. 2025 Mar 28;11(13):eadr0006. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.adr0006. Epub 2025 Mar 26.
Recent renewed interest regarding the possibility of life in the Venusian clouds has led to new studies on organic chemistry in concentrated sulfuric acid. However, life requires complex genetic polymers for biological function. Therefore, finding suitable candidates for genetic polymers stable in concentrated sulfuric acid is a necessary first step to establish that biologically functional macromolecules can exist in this environment. We explore peptide nucleic acid (PNA) as a candidate for a genetic-like polymer in a hypothetical sulfuric acid biochemistry. PNA hexamers undergo between 0.4 and 28.6% degradation in 98% (w/w) sulfuric acid at ~25°C, over the span of 14 days, depending on the sequence, but undergo complete solvolysis above 80°C. Our work is the first key step toward the identification of a genetic-like polymer that is stable in this unique solvent and further establishes that concentrated sulfuric acid can sustain a diverse range of organic chemistry that might be the basis of a form of life different from Earth's.
最近，人们对金星云层中存在生命的可能性重新产生了兴趣，这引发了对浓硫酸中有机化学的新研究。然而，生命需要复杂的遗传聚合物来实现生物学功能。因此，找到在浓硫酸中稳定的遗传聚合物的合适候选物，是确定生物功能大分子能否在这种环境中存在的必要第一步。我们探索了肽核酸（PNA）作为假设的硫酸生物化学中类似遗传聚合物的候选物。在约25°C下，PNA六聚体在98%（w/w）硫酸中，经过14天，根据序列不同，降解率在0.4%至28.6%之间，但在80°C以上会发生完全溶剂解。我们的工作是朝着鉴定在这种独特溶剂中稳定的类似遗传聚合物迈出的关键第一步，并进一步证明浓硫酸能够维持多种有机化学过程，而这些过程可能是一种不同于地球生命形式的基础。
