Homochirogenesis and the Emergence of Lifelike Structures

Cintas, Pedro

doi:10.1002/9781118867334.ch2

Cited by 4 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 72 publications

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…How life can emerge from inanimate matter is one of the grand mysteries of science and has fascinated generations of scientists. − An important aspect of life is its homochirality: in extant life, sugars and amino acids exist only as one of the two possible enantiomers (right- and left-handed, respectively), with only few exceptions . Much more than a simple curiosity of nature, it is essential for the exceptional efficiency in information transfer, − catalysis, and electron transfer of today’s biomolecules and confers directionality to molecular and cellular motion. − Hence, homochirality is likely to play an important role in the emergence of function in the transition from chemistry to biology. ,, How biological homochirality arose from a (close to) racemic world is thus a question that intrigues. In the past decades, the scientific community has devoted much effort to study chiral amplification − and symmetry breaking processes. , Most of these efforts have been directed at the polymerization of peptides and oligonucleotides, − crystallization, , and asymmetric autocatalysis of small molecules, − of which the Soai reaction is a famous example. − An overview of these systems is provided in and .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Enantioselective Self-Replicators

et al. 2023

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Self-replicating molecules provide a simple approach for investigating fundamental processes in scenarios of the emergence of life. Although homochirality is an important aspect of life and of how it emerged, the effects of chirality on self-replicators have received only little attention so far. Here, we report several self-assembled self-replicators with enantioselectivity that emerge spontaneously and grow only from enantiopure material. These require a relatively small number of chiral units in the replicators (down to eight) and in the precursors (down to a single chiral unit), compared to the only other enantioselective replicator reported previously. One replicator was found to incorporate material of its own handedness with high fidelity when provided with a racemic mixture of precursors, thus sorting (L)-and (D)-precursors into (L)-and (D)-replicators. Systematic studies reveal that the presence or absence of enantioselectivity depends on structural features (ring size of the replicator) that appear to impose constraints on its supramolecular organization. This work reveals new aspects of the little researched interplay between chirality and self-replication and represents another step toward the de novo synthesis of life.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Enantioselective Self-Replicators

et al. 2023

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“…[1][2][3][4][5] An important aspect of life is its homochirality: in extant life sugars and amino acids exist only as one of the two possible enantiomers (right-and left-handed, respectively), with only few exceptions. 6 Much more than a simple curiosity of nature, it is essential for the exceptional efficiency in information transfer, [6][7][8] catalysis 9 and electron transfer 10 of today's biomolecules and confers directionality to molecular and cellular motion. [11][12][13] Hence, homochirality is likely to play an important role in the emergence of function in the transition from chemistry to biology.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Chiral Selective Self-Replicators

Yang

Geiger

Geerts

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Self-replicating molecules provide a simple approach for investigating fundamental processes in scenarios of the emergence of life. Although homochirality is an important aspect of life and of how it emerged, the effects of chirality on self-replicators have received only little attention so far. Here we report several self-assembled self-replicators with chiral selectivity, that emerge spontaneously and grow only from enantiopure material. These require a relatively small number of chiral units in the replicators (down to 8) and in the precursors (down to a single chiral unit), compared to the only other chiral selective replicator reported previously. One replicator was found to incorporate material of its own handedness with high fidelity when provided with a racemic mixture of precursors, thus sorting (L)- and (D)-precursors into (L)- and (D)-replicators. Systematic studies reveal that the presence or absence of chiral selectivity depends on structural features (ring size of the replicator) that appear to impose constraints on its supramolecular organization. This work reveals new aspects of the little researched interplay between chirality and self-replication and represents another step towards the de novo synthesis of life.

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Connections Between Mathematical Models of Prebiotic Evolution and Homochirality

Blanco

Chen

2018

Prebiotic Chemistry and Chemical Evolution of Nucleic Acids

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Homochirogenesis and the Emergence of Lifelike Structures

Cited by 4 publications

References 72 publications

Enantioselective Self-Replicators

Enantioselective Self-Replicators

Chiral Selective Self-Replicators

Connections Between Mathematical Models of Prebiotic Evolution and Homochirality

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