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. […]
Homochirality
Posted inBiogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Origin & Evolution of Life, Status Report
On the Origin of Information Dynamics in Early Life
We hypothesize that predictable variations in environmental conditions caused by night/day cycles created opportunities and hazards that initiated information dynamics central to life’s origin.
Posted inAstrochemistry, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Habitable Zones, Origin & Evolution of Life, Status Report
Milestones At The Origin of Life
Living organisms have some common structures, chemical reactions and molecular structures. The organisms consist of cells with cell division, they have homochirality of protein and carbohydrate units, and metabolism, and […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Origin & Evolution of Life, Status Report
The Astrochemical Evolutionary Traits Of Phospholipid Membrane Homochirality
Compartmentalization is crucial for the evolution of life. Present-day phospholipid membranes exhibit a high level of complexity and species-dependent homochirality, the so-called lipid divide. It is possible that less stable, […]
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 […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Magnetic Fields, Electromagnetism, bioelectricity,, Nanotechnology & SynBio, Press Release
Homochirality Of Life: Magnetic Effects At The Origin Of Life?
The so-called homochirality of life – the fact that all biomolecules in living organisms only ever occur in one of two mirror-image forms – has puzzled a number of scientific […]
![Chiral molecules can spin polarize magnetic surfaces due to the CISS effect. A. Electron density of a molecule approaching a surface is asymmetrically distributed and a transient charge dipole is created. Charge transport through chiral molecules is spin selective due to the CISS effect and therefore a spin-dipole along the chiral molecular axis accompanies this charge dipole. This transient spin dipole can couple with surface spins due to the spin-exchange interaction (J ≡ [E(↑↑) − E(↑↓)]) and spin polarize the surface along the chiral molecular axis. B. Schematic of the setup used in crystallization experiments for CD detection. Homochiral crystals of RAO are formed on magnetite from their enantiopure solution. These crystals align the magnetic domains under them and interact with the surface spins due to magnetic dipolar coupling—a weaker but longer range coupling compared to the spin-exchange interaction C. A sequence showing the effect of chiral molecules on the magnetic domains. 1 Initially, there is no net magnetization of the magnetic domains. 2 As a layer of RAO is forming, the spins underneath the layer align due to the strong spin-exchange interaction. This is an avalanche magnetization process: molecules align the surface spins and the aligned regions attract more molecules and get larger. 3 The mono-layer grows and covers more surface due to the attraction of chiral molecules to the aligned regions and crystal seeds start forming. 4 Crystals get larger and couple with the magnetic domains due to magnetic dipole-dipole interaction, Edd. D. If an external magnetic field, −→B, is applied, the domains outside the area covered by crystals magnetize. Yet the crystals preserve the magnetization of the domains under them as long as the energy of the dipolar coupling is larger than the magnetic energy. -- physics.chem-ph](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Chirality.png?resize=1200%2C720&ssl=1)
Posted inAstrochemistry, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biophysics, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Origin & Evolution of Life, Press Release
Chirality-Induced Magnetization of Magnetite by an RNA Precursor
Life is homochiral and homochirality is a fundamental feature of living systems on Earth. While the exact mechanism that led to homochirality is still not fully understood, any realistic scenario […]
Posted inBiochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biophysics, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Origin & Evolution of Life, Status Report
Origin of Biological Homochirality by Crystallization of an RNA Precursor on a Magnetic Surface
Homochirality is a signature of life on Earth yet its origins remain an unsolved puzzle. Achieving homochirality is essential for a high-yielding prebiotic network capable of producing functional polymers like […]
Posted inBiochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Origin & Evolution of Life, Status Report
The Central Dogma Of Biological Homochirality: How Does Chiral Information Propagate In A Prebiotic Network?
Biological systems are homochiral, raising the question of how a racemic mixture of prebiotically synthesized biomolecules could attain a homochiral state at the network level.