amino acid Archives

Astropharmacy / Biotechnology, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Press Release

New Chemical Process Makes It Easier To Craft Amino Acids That Don’t Exist In Nature

by Keith CowingNovember 19, 2023November 19, 2023

Every protein in your body is made up of the same 20 building blocks called amino acids. But just because nature is stuck with a limited toolkit doesn’t mean humans […]

Xeno amino acids potentially change the biochemistry of protein folding (A) Combinations of peptide torsion angles (𝜙 & 𝛹: see Box 1) summarize peptide/protein secondary structure (adapted from Elsliger et al., 2012). Zones A & B are torsion-angle pairs disallowed by biophysics under strict steric considerations yet observed empirically upon careful investigation for specific combinations of side chains (discussed in Kalamankar et al., 2015). This provides one clue that the current, well-established map of secondary structure could shift or become unrecognizable if rebuilt for xeno amino acids (B) The dominant secondary structures of life on Earth, α-helices and ꞵ-sheets (first described by Linderstrøm-Lang, 1952), form and are stabilized by hydrogen bonds (blue dotted lines). These hydrogen bonds usually involve atoms in the amino acid backbone. The bonds and therefore protein structures would be obstructed or altered if peptides comprised a heterogeneous enantiomeric mixture, more than one sidechain per amino acid or longer backbones (i.e. β- γ- δ-) (C) Multiple secondary structures within a single polymerized amino acid sequence combine to form the larger, folded tertiary structure. It follows from A-C that protein structures could be unpredictably different if the fundamental building blocks (amino acids) were changed. Images were created using Mol* Viewer (Sehna et al., 2021) with PDB 4LV0 AmpC beta-lactamase in complex with m-aminophenyl boronic acid (London et al., 2014). -- q-bio.BM

Astrochemistry, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Status Report

Xeno Amino Acids: A Look Into Biochemistry As We Don’t Know It

by Keith CowingNovember 8, 2023November 8, 2023

Would Another Origin Of Life Resemble Earth’s Biochemical Use Of Amino Acids? Here we review current knowledge at three levels:

(A) The proposed active complex proposed by Rode et al. (1990) for the SIPF reaction for a protonated and neutral alanine molecule [18]. (B) Another plausible SIPF active complex between two neutral alanine molecules in a cis configuration as proposed by Rimola et al. (2007) [20]. Here, cis refers to the relative position of the N (or equivalently O) atoms on the same side of the plane containing the Cu atom. In this figure, red denotes oxygen, blue denotes nitrogen, gray denotes carbon, light gray denotes hydrogen, orange denotes copper, and green denotes chlorine. -- Life

Astrochemistry, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Origin & Evolution of Life, Status Report

The Role of the CuCl Active Complex in the Stereoselectivity of the Salt-Induced Peptide Formation Reaction: Insights from Density Functional Theory Calculations

by Keith CowingOctober 8, 2023October 8, 2023

The salt-induced peptide formation (SIPF) reaction is a prebiotically plausible mechanism for the spontaneous polymerization of amino acids into peptides on early Earth.

Artistic composition of tryptophan molecules in the star-forming region IC 348 located in the constellation Perseus. CREDIT Gabriel Pérez Díaz (IAC)

Astrochemistry, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Interstellar, Press Release

Tryptophan, An Amino Acid Essential For Life, Has Been Found In Interstellar Space

by Keith CowingJune 24, 2023

Tryptophan is one of the 20 amino acids considered essential for the formation of proteins, which are key macromolecules for the development of life on Earth. This amino acid has […]

Astrochemistry, Astronomy & Telescopes, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Interstellar, Press Release

Evidence Of The Amino Acid Tryptophan Found In Space

by Keith CowingJune 20, 2023June 20, 2023

Using data from the Spitzer space observatory, Dr Susana Iglesias-Groth, a researcher from The Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC), has found evidence for the existence of the amino acid […]

Origin & Evolution of Life, Press Release

Origin Of Life Insight: Peptides Can Form Without Amino Acids

by Keith CowingJuly 16, 2019

Peptides, one of the fundamental building blocks of life, can be formed from the primitive precursors of amino acids under conditions similar to those expected on the primordial Earth, finds […]

Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics

Making Unnatural Amino Acids

by Keith CowingMarch 13, 2014

Chemists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have devised a greatly improved technique for making amino acids not found in nature. These “unnatural” amino acids traditionally have been very difficult […]

Astrochemistry, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Press Release

Left-handed Isovaline and Life on Earth

by Keith CowingJanuary 19, 2011April 13, 2024

NASA scientists analyzing the dust of meteorites have discovered new clues to a long-standing mystery about how life works on its most basic, molecular level. “We found more support for […]