In addition to this synthetic feature, the energy content carried

In addition to this synthetic feature, the energy content carried by these molecules

would have been used to maintain their self-organization. It is likely that some of these molecules have constituted the starting material yielding some of the high-energy intermediates (thioesters, acyl phosphates, acyl adenylates, phosphoenol pyruvate, aminoacyl adenylates) Selleckchem GSK461364 that are nowadays involved in the main biochemical pathways. These intermediates are characterized by an energy content corresponding to a range of ca. 30 to more than 60 kJ mol−1 per chemical event (hydrolysis for the above mentioned examples). Even in its early stages, the development of the translation machinery required the

availability of a source of energy capable of releasing the energy content needed for aminoacid adenylate check details formation, which is higher than that of ATP by as much as ca. 37 kJ mol−1 (Wells et al., 1986). Throughout the development of the corresponding processes, carriers capable of releasing energy contents in a similar or upper range have been needed. An assessment of Batimastat abiotic organic reagents based on the chemistry expected to have taken place on the primitive Earth has been carried out. It includes low-molecular weight activated molecules formed by activation in simulated primitive atmosphere. The results of these investigations Aspartate will be presented highlighting the possibilities of hydrolytic processes of various precursors including amino acid derivatives

such as a-aminonitriles (Lazcano and Miller, 1996) or N-carboxyanhydrides (Pascal et al., 2005). Pathways leading to the utilization of energy are likely to involve downhill chain reactions or protometabolic cycles reminiscent of those found in modern biochemistry. Such stepwise pathways require the presence of chemical energy sources (energy carriers) and the occurrence of coupled reactions for this energy to be distributed to different reaction systems. The requirements for such systems will be analyzed and discussed as well as their consequences for the emergence of protometabolisms trough which life originated and developed (Eschenmoser, 1994; 2007; Pross, 2005, Shapiro, 2006, Commeyras et al., 2004). Commeyras, A., Taillades, J., Collet, H., Boiteau, L., Vandenabeele-Trambouze, O., Pascal, R., Rousset, A., Garrel, L., Rossi, J.-C., Biron, J.-P., Lagrille, O., Plasson, R., Souaid, E., Danger, G., Selsis, F., Dobrijevic, M., Martin, H. 2004. Dynamic co-evolution of peptides and chemical energetics, a gateway to the emergence of homochirality and the catalytic activity of peptides. Origins Life Evol. Biosphere 34, 35–55. Eschenmoser, A. 1994.

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