Prebiotic selection and assembly of proteinogenic amino acids and natural nucleotides from complex mixtures
作者:Saidul Islam、Dejan-Krešimir Bučar、Matthew W. Powner
DOI:10.1038/nchem.2703
日期:2017.6
permits ribonucleotide synthesis, even from complex sugar mixtures. Remarkably, aminal formation also overcomes the thermodynamically favoured isomerization of glyceraldehyde into dihydroxyacetone because only the aminal of glyceraldehyde separates from the equilibrating mixture. Finally, we show that aminal formation provides a novel pathway to amino acids that avoids the synthesis of the non-proteinogenic
Common origins of RNA, protein and lipid precursors in a cyanosulfidic protometabolism
作者:Bhavesh H. Patel、Claudia Percivalle、Dougal J. Ritson、Colm D. Duffy、John D. Sutherland
DOI:10.1038/nchem.2202
日期:2015.4
A minimal cell can be thought of as comprising informational, compartment-forming and metabolic subsystems. To imagine the abiotic assembly of such an overall system, however, places great demands on hypothetical prebiotic chemistry. The perceived differences and incompatibilities between these subsystems have led to the widely held assumption that one or other subsystem must have preceded the others. Here we experimentally investigate the validity of this assumption by examining the assembly of various biomolecular building blocks from prebiotically plausible intermediates and one-carbon feedstock molecules. We show that precursors of ribonucleotides, amino acids and lipids can all be derived by the reductive homologation of hydrogen cyanide and some of its derivatives, and thus that all the cellular subsystems could have arisen simultaneously through common chemistry. The key reaction steps are driven by ultraviolet light, use hydrogen sulfide as the reductant and can be accelerated by Cu(I)âCu(II) photoredox cycling. A minimal cell â one that has all the minimum requirements for life â is still a complex entity comprising informational, compartment-forming and metabolic subsystems. Here it is shown that, contrary to previous assumptions, a common prebiotically plausible chemistry can give rise to building blocks for all the subsystems.
Chemistry of α-Amino Nitriles1 . Exploratory Experiments on Thermal Reactions of α-Amino Nitriles
α-氨基腈的化学1 。α-氨基腈热反应的探索性实验
Prebiotic synthesis of aminooxazoline-5′-phosphates in water by oxidative phosphorylation
作者:C. Fernández-García、N. M. Grefenstette、M. W. Powner
DOI:10.1039/c7cc02183f
日期:——
the leading candidate for the first biopolymer of life. Aminooxazolines have recently emerged as key prebiotic ribonucleotide precursors, and here we develop a novel strategy for aminooxazoline-5′-phosphate synthesis in water from prebiotic feedstocks. Oxidation of acrolein delivers glycidaldehyde (90%), which directs a regioselective phosphorylation in water and specifically affords 5′-phosphorylated