Prebiological protein synthesis.

Matthews, Clifford N.; Moser, Robert E.

doi:10.1073/pnas.56.4.1087

Cited by 103 publications

(32 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…The structure of the resulting complex polymer is not determined, albeit several models for its structure have been proposed [24][25][26][27][28][29]. The large complex polymers consist mostly of H, C and N according to elemental analysis [27].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Navigating the Chemical Space of HCN Polymerization and Hydrolysis: Guiding Graph Grammars by Mass Spectrometry Data

Andersen

Flamm

et al. 2013

Entropy

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Polymers of hydrogen cyanide and their hydrolysis products constitute a plausible, but still poorly understood proposal for early prebiotic chemistry on Earth.HCN polymers are generated by the interplay of more than a dozen distinctive reaction mechanisms and form a highly complex mixture. Here we use a computational model based on graph grammars as a means of exploring the chemical spaces of HCN polymerization and hydrolysis. A fundamental issue is to understand the combinatorial explosion inherent in large, complex chemical systems. We demonstrate that experimental data, here obtained by mass spectrometry, and computationally predicted free energies together can be used

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Navigating the Chemical Space of HCN Polymerization and Hydrolysis: Guiding Graph Grammars by Mass Spectrometry Data

Andersen

Flamm

et al. 2013

Entropy

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“…Matthew's and Ferris' separate studies of HCN polymerization chemistry, as well as Sagan's and Khare's study of tholins, also involved the facile production of complex, highly colored organic polymers. [7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15] They have also been considered as a potential source of amino acids, nucleobases and peptides on earth and appear to be common throughout our solar system. For example, these materials have been proposed to be the source of the distinctive orange, redbrown and black colors of comets and the atmosphere of planets and moons such as Saturn, Jupiter and Titan and carbonaceous meteorites, indicating their abundance in our solar system and the universe, respectively.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Prebiotic-chemistry inspired polymer coatings for biomedical and material science applications

et al. 2015

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In the field of prebiotic chemistry, hydrogen cyanide (HCN)-derived polymers have been studied for many years as a possible source of the precursors that provide the building blocks for proteins as well as nucleic acids, and they have also been associated with the origin of life. The HCN trimer, aminomalononitrile (AMN), polymerizes to give a brown complex nitrogenous polymer. We report the one-step polymerization-deposition of AMN as a simple generic surface-coating method and as an application of prebiotic chemical research to material science. We found that this polymerization, carried out in buffered aqueous solutions, can be used to coat a wide range of organic and inorganic substrate materials. The robust, non-cytotoxic coatings also provide for excellent cell attachment, suggesting potential biomedical applications. Furthermore, the coating chemistry allows for the immobilization of other compounds, including metals, both during coating formation or by performing secondary immobilization reactions.

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“…The synthesis under prebiotic conditions of aspartic and glutamic acid (2)(3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(12)(13)(14), serine (2,5,(6)(7)(8)13), threonine (2,3,(5)(6)(7), and proline (3,4,7,8,13) have been reported but they have not been properly identified [except for aspartic acid (14) ]. The synthesis of these amino acids (except proline) has also been reported from the polymerization of HCN (1), but again without proper identification.…”

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confidence: 99%

“…Prebiotic syntheses of the higher aliphatic amino acids have been claimed, for example, by the action of electric discharges on CH4 + NH3 + H20 (2)(3)(4)(5)(6), by heating CH4 + NH3 + H20 to 900-1200° (7,8), and by the action of shock waves on CH4, C2H6, NH3, and H20 (9). The amino acids were identified only by an amino-acid analyzer (2-4, 6, 7, 9), only by paper electrophoresis (8), or only by gas chromatography (5).…”

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confidence: 99%

Prebiotic Synthesis of Hydrophobic and Protein Amino Acids

Ring

Wolman

Friedmann

et al. 1972

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

160

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The formation of amino acids by the action of electric discharges on a mixture of methane, nitrogen, and water with traces of ammonia was studied in detail. The presence of glycine, alanine, a-amino-n-butyric acid, a-aminoisobutyric acid, valine, norvaline, isovaline, leucine, isoleucine, alloisoleucine, norleucine, proline, aspartic acid, glutamic acid, serine, threonine, allothreonine, a-hydroxy---aminobutyric acid, and a,-y-diaminobutyric acid was confirmed by ion-exchange chromatography and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. All of the primary a-amino acids found in the Murchison Meteorite have been synthesized by this electric discharge experiment.Most prebiotic syntheses that start with the primitive atmospheric constituents give substantial yields of glycine, alanine, and a-amino-n-butyric acid (1). Prebiotic syntheses of the higher aliphatic amino acids have been claimed, for example, by the action of electric discharges on CH4 + NH3 + H20 (2-6), by heating CH4 + NH3 + H20 to 900-1200°(7, 8), and by the action of shock waves on CH4, C2H6, NH3, and H20 (9). The amino acids were identified only by an amino-acid analyzer (2-4, 6, 7, 9), only by paper electrophoresis (8), or only by gas chromatography (5). However, these techniques are not sufficient by themselves to identify an amino acid.In the original synthesis of amino acids by electric discharges (10-12), only glycine, alanine, a-amino-t-butyric acid, a-aminoisobutyric acid, and ,B-alanine, of the simple aliphatic amino acids, were synthesized in sufficient yield to obtain identification by a melting point of a derivative. Recently developed techniques permit the identification of compounds found in lower yield by this synthesis.The synthesis under prebiotic conditions of aspartic and glutamic acid (2-8, 12-14), serine (2, 5, 6-8, 13), threonine (2, 3, 5-7), and proline (3, 4, 7, 8, 13) have been reported but they have not been properly identified [except for aspartic acid (14) ]. The synthesis of these amino acids (except proline) has also been reported from the polymerization of HCN (1), but again without proper identification. A prebiotic synthesis of threonine should also yield allothreonine, but this amino acid has never been reported. In addition, several investigators have reported the appearance of a large peak at the isoleucine position on the amino-acid analyzer (2, 4-6, 13). The identification of this peak as isoleucine has been questioned (4, 13). It is evident that this compound cannot be isoleucine, since a corresponding peak for alloisoleucine is not observed.Most electric-discharge experiments have been done with a large amount of ammonia present. Use of nitrogen instead of ammonia in such experiments does not change the major products, although the yield of amino acids is lower (12).The use of a higher concentration of ammonia in such experiments has been criticized (15), and it is now thought that the ammonia concentration in the prebiotic atmosphere was not likely to have been greater than 10-5 atm (16,17). Although this i...

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Prebiological protein synthesis.

Cited by 103 publications

References 10 publications

Navigating the Chemical Space of HCN Polymerization and Hydrolysis: Guiding Graph Grammars by Mass Spectrometry Data

Navigating the Chemical Space of HCN Polymerization and Hydrolysis: Guiding Graph Grammars by Mass Spectrometry Data

Prebiotic-chemistry inspired polymer coatings for biomedical and material science applications

Prebiotic Synthesis of Hydrophobic and Protein Amino Acids

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