Carbonyl sulfide-mediated prebiotic formation of peptides

Science

Volumn 306, Issue 5694, 2004, Pages 283-286

  Leman, Luke ^a   Orgel, Leslie ^b   Ghadiri, M Reza ^a  

^a SCRIPPS RESEARCH INSTITUTE   (United States)

^b SALK INSTITUTE FOR BIOLOGICAL STUDIES   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

AMINO ACIDS; CHEMICAL REACTIONS; POLYMERIZATION;

COMETS; NUCLEOTIDES; PEPTIDES; VOLCANIC GAS;

MONOMERS;

ALPHA AMINO ACID; CARBONYL DERIVATIVE; PREBIOTIC AGENT; SULFIDE;

BIOCHEMISTRY;

AQUEOUS SOLUTION; ARTICLE; CHEMICAL REACTION; PEPTIDE SYNTHESIS; PRIORITY JOURNAL;

AMINO ACIDS; ANAEROBIOSIS; CYCLIZATION; DIPEPTIDES; EVOLUTION, CHEMICAL; MAGNETIC RESONANCE SPECTROSCOPY; OLIGOPEPTIDES; OXIDATION-REDUCTION; PHENYLALANINE; SERINE; SULFUR OXIDES; TEMPERATURE; THERMODYNAMICS; THIOCARBAMATES;

EID: 5044231756     PISSN: 00368075     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1126/science.1102722     Document Type: Article

References (27)

1. R. S. Dewey et al., J. Org. Chem. 36, 49 (1971).
2. C. Huber, G. Wachtershauser, Science 281, 670 (1998).
3. C. Huber, W. Eisenreich, S. Hecht, G. Wachtershauser, Science 301, 938 (2003).
4. Materials and methods are available as supporting material on Science Online.
5. COS is repotted to dissolve in water at room temperature to give up to 20 to 30 mM solutions (6, 22).
6. R. J. Ferm, Chem. Rev. 57, 621 (1957).
7. - on the NCA would generate α-amino thioacids that can participate in the formation of peptides and side products (23).
8. 2O, pD 9.0), a hydrolysis half-life of ∼20 hours was observed.
9. Condensations of NCAs with free amino acids (100 mM each in borate buffer pH ≈ 10) at 4°C are typically complete in less than 2 min (7, 24).
10. Metal ions that might be present as impurities in the sample are not required for condensation, as demonstrated by formation of product in the presence of the metal chelator EDTA (Table 1, entry 4).
11. R. Liu, L. E. Orgel, Nature 389, 52 (1997).
12. J. F. Kasting, L. L. Brown, in The Molecular Origins of Life, A. Brack, Ed. (Cambridge Univ. Press, New York, 1998), pp. 35-56.
13. A. D. Keefe, S. L. Miller, Origins Life Evol. Biosphere 2. 111 (1996).
14. R. B. Symonds, W. I. Rose, G. J. S. Bluth, T. M. Gerlach, Rev. Mineral. 30, 1 (1994).
15. L. E. Orgel Origins Life Evol. Biosphere 28, 227 (1998).
16. A. R. Hill Jr., C. Bohler, L. E. Orgel, Origins Life Evol. Biosphere 28, 235 (1998).
17. Alternative potentially prebiotic condensing agents with relatively high efficiency are inorganic polyphosphates (25, 26).
18. W. Meinen, A. M. Lauwers, Origins Life Evol. Biosphere 2, 131 (1996).
19. D. R. Herrington, P. L. Kuch, U.S. Patent 4,618,723 (1986).
20. W. C. Buningh, U.S. Patent 3,507,613 (1970).
21. J.-P. Biron, R. Pascal, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 126, 9189 (2004).
22. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Chemical Summary for Carbonyt Sulfide (Publication 749-F-94-009a. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, 1994; www.epa.gov/chemfact/s_carbns.txt).
23. T. Wieland, K. E. Euler, Chem. Ber. 91, 2305 (1958).
24. R. Hirschmann et at., J. Org. Chem. 32, 3415 (1967).
25. Y. Yamagata, H. Watanabe, M. Saitoh, T. Namba, Nature 352, 516 (1991).
26. J. Rabinowitz, J. Flores, R. Kresbach, G. Rogers, Nature 224, 795 (1969).
27. We thank NASA Astrobiology Institute and NASA Exobiology (NAG5-12160) for financial support LL is the recipient of an NSF Predoctoral Fellowship.