Amino acids (AAs) are a key target in the search for life beyond Earth due to their extensive role in the machinery of all known life, persistence over geologic timescales, […]
chirality
Posted inAstrochemistry, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Interstellar, Origin & Evolution of Life, Status Report
The Origin of Biomolecular Homochirality
The origin of homochirality in biomolecules is a central problem in the study of the origin of life and is fundamental to understanding the nature of life itself.
Posted inBiochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biophysics, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Origin & Evolution of Life, Press Release
An Ancient Protein Breaks The Rules Of Molecular Handedness
A new study led by researchers from the Earth-Life Science Institute (ELSI) at the Institute of Science Tokyo, in collaboration with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Weizmann Institute […]
Posted inBiochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Origin & Evolution of Life, Status Report
The Emergence of Chirality From Metabolism
Molecular chirality is critical to biochemical function, but it is unknown when chiral selectivity first became important in the evolutionary transition from geochemistry to biochemistry during the emergence of life.
Posted inAstrochemistry, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Interstellar, Microbiology & Virology, Press Release
How Calcium May Have Unlocked The Origins Of Life’s Molecular Asymmetry
A new study led by researchers at the Earth-Life Science Institute (ELSI) at Institute of Science Tokyo has uncovered a surprising role for calcium in shaping life’s earliest molecular structures. […]
![The parameter region of the AWDM. The correct baryon asymmetry can be obtained in the blue band. The region favored by the homochirality of the amino acids is represented by the red band. Here we use ξB = 0.1 − 10 while ξAA = 0.01 − 100. The gray (light gray) region is excluded by the observation relevant to the X-ray emission adopted from [39] (phase-space bound). The dotted line denotes the future reach by Athena [69]. -- hep-ph](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Asymmetric-Warm-Dark-Matter.png?resize=1200%2C719&ssl=1)
Posted inAstrochemistry, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biophysics, Status Report
Asymmetric Warm Dark Matter: From Cosmological Asymmetry to Chirality of Life
We investigate a novel scenario involving asymmetric keV-range dark matter (DM) in the form of right-handed (sterile) neutrinos.
Posted inBiochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Origin & Evolution of Life, Status Report
Membrane Permeability Selection Drove the Stereochemistry of Life
Early in the evolution of life a proto-metabolic network was encapsulated within a membrane compartment. The permeability characteristics of the membrane determined several key functions of this network by determining […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biophysics, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Interstellar, Status Report
The Mystery Of Homochirality On Earth
Homochirality is an obvious feature of life on Earth. On the other hand, extraterrestrial samples contain largely racemic compounds. The same is true for any common organic synthesis.
Posted inAstrochemistry, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biophysics, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Press Release
How Molecular Handedness Emerged In Early Biology
Molecules often have a structural asymmetry called chirality, which means they can appear in alternative, mirror-image versions, akin to the left and right versions of human hands. One of the […]
![A) Alanine synthesis using a Strecker mechanism, where the wiggly bonds indicate indeterminate stereochemistry. (B) Illustrating a calcium-promoted step on the reaction pathway where a PNC effect from Ca2+ could influence chiral preference at the Cα carbon (highlighted by circling in dashed blue). (C) An example of an Ala-bound calcium complex in a metal-mediated autocatalytic pathway, where L and L′ could be water, a bifurcating carboxylate from another amino acid [5], or other ligands. -- Life](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Influence-of-the.png?resize=1200%2C900&ssl=1)
Posted inAstrochemistry, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biophysics, Origin & Evolution of Life, Status Report
Influence of the Weak Nuclear Force on Metal-Promoted Autocatalytic Strecker Synthesis of Amino Acids: Formation of a Chiral Pool of Precursors for Prebiotic Peptide and Protein Synthesis
Natural chiral amino acids typically adopt an L structural configuration. While a preference for specific molecular chiralities is observed throughout biology and cellular chemistry, the origins of this preference are […]