Nucleic acids hydrolytic chemistry

The role of water in governing the upper thermal limits for life also is based on covalent transformations in which water is a reactant. As emphasized earlier in this chapter, the removal of a molecule of water from reactants is common in diverse biosynthetic reactions, including the polymerization of amino acids into proteins and nucleotide triphosphates into nucleic acids. The breakdown of biomolecules often involves hydrolysis, and increased temperatures generally enhance these hydrolytic reactions. The thermal stabilities of many biomolecules, for instance, certain amino acids and ATP, become limiting at high temperatures. Calculations suggest that ATP hydrolysis becomes a critical limiting factor for life at temperatures between 110°C and 140°C (Leibrock et al., 1995 Jaenicke, 2000). Thus, at temperatures near 110°C, both the covalent and the noncovalent chemistries of water that are so critical for life are altered to the extent that life based on an abundance of liquid water ceases to be possible. 

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