RNA binding and coacervation promote preservation of peptide form and function across the heterochiral–homochiral divide

Recent evidence suggests that peptide-RNA coacervates may have buffered the emergence of folded domains from flexible peptides. As primitive peptides were likely composed of both L- and D-amino acids, we hypothesized that coacervates may have also supported the emergence of chiral control. To test this hypothesis, we compared the coacervation propensities of an isotactic (homochiral) peptide and a syndiotactic (alternating chirality) peptide, both with an identical sequence derived from the ancient helix–hairpin–helix (HhH) motif. Using electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy and atomistic molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, we found that the syndiotactic peptide does not form stable dimers with high α-helicity in solution, unlike the isotactic peptide. However, both peptides do coacervate with RNA, albeit with distinct reentrant phase behaviors. Coacervation in each case is facilitated by oligomer formation, likely dimerization, upon RNA binding that promotes RNA cross-linking. Additionally, RNA cross-linking and coacervation of the syndiotactic peptide may involve α-helical conformations, according to atomistic MD simulations. Coarse-grained MD simulations indicate that the differences in reentrant phase behavior of isotactic and syndiotactic peptides are associated with differences in dimer flexibility and stability, which modulate the strength of peptide–peptide and peptide–RNA interactions and, consequently, the effectiveness of RNA cross-linking. These results illustrate how RNA binding and/or coacervation by early proteins could have promoted the transition of flexible, heterochiral peptides into folded, homochiral domains.