| On the origin of terrestrial homochirality for nucleosides and amino acids. | |
| | |
MedLine Citation:
|
PMID: 19478058 Owner: NLM Status: MEDLINE |
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
|
Before life could start on earth, it was important that the amino acid building blocks be present in a predominant handedness called the L configuration and that the ribose of RNA be predominantly in the D configuration. Because ordinary chemical processes would produce them in equal L and D amounts, it has long been a puzzle how the needed selectivities could have arisen. Carbonaceous chondrites such as the Murchison meteorite, which landed in Australia in 1969, brought some unusual amino acids with a methyl group replacing their alpha hydrogen. They cannot racemize and have a small but real excess of those with the L configuration. We have shown that they can partake in a synthesis of normal L amino acids under credible prebiotic conditions. We and others showed that small preferences can be amplified into solutions with very high dominance of the L amino acids because of the higher solubility of the pure L form than of the more stable DL racemic compound crystal. Here, we show that such solubility-based amplification of small excesses of three D nucleosides, uridine, adenosine, and cytidine, can also occur to form solutions with very high D dominance under credible prebiotic conditions. Guanosine crystallizes as a conglomerate and does not amplify in this way. However, under prebiotic conditions it could have been formed from homochiral D ribose from the hydrolysis of amplified adenosine or cytidine. |
| | |
Authors:
|
Ronald Breslow; Zhan-Ling Cheng |
Related Documents
:
|
235948 - Ribonucleoside 3'-di- and -triphosphates. synthesis of guanosine tetraphosphate (ppgpp). 16153838 - Polymer supported carbodiimide strategy for the synthesis of n-acylated derivatives of ... 4908668 - Pyrimidine pools and macromolecular composition of pyrimidine-limited escherichia coli. 22387128 - Amino acids: chemistry, functionality and selected non-enzymatic post-translational mod... 7811748 - 3,5-di-t-butyl-4-hydroxytoluene (bht) and probucol stimulate selectively the reaction o... 8341728 - Bridged bis(4-thiazolidinones) and related compounds with antibacterial activity. |
Publication Detail:
|
Type: Journal Article; Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S. Date: 2009-05-28 |
Journal Detail:
|
Title: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America Volume: 106 ISSN: 1091-6490 ISO Abbreviation: Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. Publication Date: 2009 Jun |
Date Detail:
|
Created Date: 2009-06-10 Completed Date: 2009-07-06 Revised Date: 2010-09-27 |
Medline Journal Info:
|
Nlm Unique ID: 7505876 Medline TA: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A Country: United States |
Other Details:
|
Languages: eng Pagination: 9144-6 Citation Subset: IM |
Affiliation:
|
Department of Chemistry, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, USA. rb33@columbia.edu |
Export Citation:
|
APA/MLA Format Download EndNote Download BibTex |
| MeSH Terms | |
Descriptor/Qualifier:
|
Amino Acids
/
chemistry* Australia Evolution, Chemical Meteoroids Nucleosides / chemistry* Ribose / chemistry Solubility Stereoisomerism |
| Chemical | |
Reg. No./Substance:
|
0/Amino Acids; 0/Nucleosides; 50-69-1/Ribose |
| Comments/Corrections | |
Comment In:
|
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2009 Aug 11;106(32):E85; author reply E86
[PMID:
19666556
]
|
From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine
Previous Document: Gag- and Nef-specific CD4+ T cells recognize and inhibit SIV replication in infected macrophages ear...
Next Document: ATP8B1 is essential for maintaining normal hearing.