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Just heard about this...anyone have more familiarity/info? Does this provide any insight into abiogenesis?
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99993972
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99993972
You have heard of DNA and RNA, but what about TNA? It resembles its more famous cousins in almost every respect, except that it is based on a sugar called threose instead of the deoxyribose found in DNA and the ribose in RNA. Researchers have speculated that because threose is a simpler sugar than ribose, TNA could be a long-lost precursor to RNA.
… has shown that TNA can be assembled by natural enzymes.
TNA (Threose Nucleic Acid) is a nucleic acid that is structurally similar to RNA. It is hypothesized to have been a precursor to RNA in the early stages of life on Earth.
The existence of TNA provides evidence for the theory of abiogenesis, which suggests that life on Earth originated from non-living matter. TNA is a simpler form of RNA, which could have been more likely to form spontaneously in the conditions of early Earth.
TNA and RNA have many structural similarities, such as sharing the same sugar component. However, TNA is more stable and simpler in structure, making it a potential precursor to RNA.
TNA and RNA have some key differences, including the sugar component (threose in TNA and ribose in RNA) and the base component (uracil in TNA and thymine in RNA). Additionally, TNA is more stable and less prone to spontaneous hydrolysis compared to RNA.
The discovery of TNA broadens our understanding of the possible pathways that led to the formation of life on Earth. It suggests that RNA may not have been the only precursor to life, and that TNA may have played a role in the early stages of abiogenesis.