Simulation of organismic morphology and behavior by synthetic poly-alpha-amino acids.
Simulation of organismic morphology and behavior by synthetic poly-alpha-amino acids
ABIOGENESIS↗
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Some recent work on prebiological synthesis of organic compounds.
Origin of constituents of nucleic acid and protein molecules, noting biological molecules synthesis under conditions similar to those prevailing in prebiotic Earth, following Oparin-Haldane hypothesis
ABIOGENESIS↗
Studies of radioactivity and hydrothermal processes in protobiochemistry on earth and the moon
Abiogenic synthesis of protobiochemicals in hydrothermal model system under influence of ionizing radiation
PROTOBIOLOGY↗
Hydrogen - The carrier of life
Hydrogen, and hydrogen compounds with oxygen, carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus in construction of living systems
HYDROGEN COMPOUND↗
A possible prebiotic synthesis of monocarboxylic acids.
Prebiotic synthesis of monocarboxylic acids suggested from mixture of methane and water exposed to semicorona discharge
CARBOXYLIC ACID↗
A Closer Look at Non-Random Patterns Within Chemistry Space for a Smaller, Earlier Amino Acid Alphabet
Recent findings, in vitro and in silico, are strengthening the idea of a simpler, earlier stage of genetically encoded proteins which used amino acids produced by prebiotic chemistry. These findings motivate a re-examination of prior work which has identified unusual properties of the set of twenty amino acids found within the full genetic code, while leaving it unclear whether similar patterns also characterize the subset of prebiotically plausible amino acids. We have suggested previously that this ambiguity may result from the low number of amino acids recognized by the definition of prebiotic plausibility used for the analysis. Here, we test this hypothesis using significantly updated data for organic material detected within meteorites, which contain several coded and non-coded amino acids absent from prior studies. In addition to confirming the well-established idea that “late” arriving amino acids expanded the chemistry space encoded by genetic material, we find that a prebiotically plausible subset of coded amino acids generally emulates the patterns found in the full set of 20, namely an exceptionally broad and even distribution of volumes and an exceptionally even distribution of hydrophobicities (quantified as logP) over a narrow range. However, the strength of this pattern varies depending on both the size and composition the library used to create a background (null model) for a random alphabet, and the precise definition of exactly which amino acids were present in a simpler, earlier code. Findings support the idea that a small sample size of amino acids caused previous ambiguous results, and further improvements in meteorite analysis, and/or prebiotic simulations will further clarify the nature and extent of unusual properties. We discuss the case of sulfur-containing amino acids as a specific and clear example and conclude by reviewing the potential impact of better understanding the chemical “logic” of a smaller forerunner to the standard amino acid alphabet.
Amino acids↗