Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • News & Views
  • Published:

Back to the future of nucleic acid self-amplification

Nature Chemical Biology volume 5, pages 200–201 (2009)Cite this article

The development of an autocatalytic, exponential replicator that is based solely on nucleic acids has implications for our understanding of the origins of life and potential applications in nucleic acid engineering.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Autocatalytic ligase cycles.

References

  1. Joyce, G.F. et al. Nature 310, 602–604 (1984).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Lincoln, T.A. & Joyce, G.F. Science 323, 1229–1232 (2009).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Lam, B.J. & Joyce, G.F. Nat. Biotechnol. advance online publication, doi: 10.1038/nbt.1528 (22 February 2009).

  4. Rogers, J. & Joyce, G.F. Nature 402, 323–325 (1999).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Rogers, J. & Joyce, G.F. RNA 7, 395–404 (2001).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Paul, N. & Joyce, G.F. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 99, 12733–12740 (2002).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Kim, D.E. & Joyce, G.F. Chem. Biol. 11, 1505–1512 (2004).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Soukup, G.A. & Breaker, R.R. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 96, 3584–3589 (1999).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Robertson, M.P. & Ellington, A.D. Nucleic Acids Res. 28, 1751–1759 (2000).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. von Kiedrowski, G. Bioorg. Chem. Frontiers 3, 115–146 (1993).

    Google Scholar 

  11. Hud, N.V. & Anet, F.A. J. Theor. Biol. 205, 543–562 (2000).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Unrau, P.J. & Bartel, D.P. Nature 395, 260–263 (1998).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Eigen, M. & Schuster, P. Naturwissenschaften 64, 541–565 (1977).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Lee, D.H. et al. Nature 390, 591–594 (1997).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Andrew D. Ellington is in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and the Center for Systems and Synthetic Biology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, USA. andy.ellington@mail.utexas.edu,

    Andrew D Ellington

Authors
  1. Andrew D Ellington
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Ellington, A. Back to the future of nucleic acid self-amplification. Nat Chem Biol 5, 200–201 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/nchembio0409-200

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nchembio0409-200

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing