Non-racemic mixture model: a computational approach

• Authors: Carlos Polanco , Thomas Buhse
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

The behavior of a slight chiral bias in favor of l-amino acids over d-amino acids was studied in an evolutionary mathematical model generating mixed chiral peptide hexamers. The simulations aimed to reproduce a very generalized prebiotic scenario involving a specified couple of amino acid enantiomers and a possible asymmetric amplification through autocatalytic peptide self-replication while forming small multimers of a defined length. Our simplified model allowed the observation of a small ascending but not conclusive tendency in the l-amino acid over the d-amino acid profile for the resulting mixed chiral hexamers in computer simulations of 100 peptide generations. This simulation was carried out by changing the chiral bias from 1% to 3%, in three stages of 15, 50 and 100 generations to observe any alteration that could mean a drastic change in behavior. So far, our simulations lead to the assumption that under the exposure of very slight non-racemic conditions, a significant bias between l- and d-amino acids, as present in our biosphere, was unlikely generated under prebiotic conditions if autocatalytic peptide self-replication was the main or the only driving force of chiral auto-amplification.

Keywords

EN

origin of homochirality; prebiotic peptide formation; chiral asymmetry; amino acids

• Publisher: Polish Biochemical Society
• Journal: Acta Biochimica Polonica
• Year: 2017
• Volume: 64
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 17-19

Dates

published

2017

received

2015-07-30

revised

2016-02-23

accepted

2016-02-24

(unknown)

2016-10-14

Contributors

author

Carlos Polanco

• Department of Mathematics, Faculty of Sciences, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de México, Av. Universidad 3000 C.P. 04510 D.F., México

author

Thomas Buhse

• Centro de Investigaciones Químicas, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos, Av. Universidad 1001, C.P. 62209 Cuernavaca, Morelos, México

References

• Alicea B, Gordon R. (2014) Toy models for macroevolutionary trends. Biosystems 123: 54-66. doi: 10.1016/j.biosystems.2014.09.007.
• Cronin JR, Pizzarello S (1997) Enantiomeric excesses in meteoritic amino acids. Science 275: 951-955. doi: 10.1126/science.275.5302.951.
• Frank FC (1953) On spontaneous asymmetric synthesis. Biochim Biophys Acta 11: 459-463.
• Fraser DG, Fitz D, Jakschitz T, Rode BM (2011) Selective adsorption and chiral amplification of amino acids in vermiculite clay-implications for the origin of biochirality. Phys Chem Chem Phys 13: 831-838. doi: 10.1039/c0cp01388a.
• Hitz TH, Luisi PL (2004) Spontaneous onset of homochirality in oligopeptide chains generated in the polymerization of N-carboxyanhydride amino acids in water. Orig Life Evol Biosph 34: 93-110.
• Isaacson DL, Madsen WR (1976) Markov chains, theory and applications. pp 14-16, Wiley Series in Probability and Mathematical Statistics, Inc. USA
• Issac R, Ham YW, Chmielewski J (2001) The design of self-replicating helical peptides. Curr Opin Struct Biol 11: 458-463.
• Miller SL (1953) A Production of amino acids under possible primitive earth conditions. Science 117: 528-529.
• Muñoz-Caro GM, Meierhenrich UJ, Schutte WA, Barbier B, Arcones Segovia A, Rosenbauer H, Thiemann WH, Brack A, Greenberg JM (2002) Amino acids from ultraviolet irradiation of interstellar ice analogues. Nature 416: 403-406. https://doi.org/10.1038/416403a.
• Murchison (1969) Meteoritical Bulletin Database: Murchison. http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meteor/metbull.php?code=16875. Last update: 22 Jan 2015
• Poincaré H (1952) Science and Method Dover Publications, pp 76
• Polanco C, Buhse T, Samaniego JL, Castañón González JA (2013) A toy model of prebiotic peptide evolution: the possible role of relative amino acid abundances. Acta Biochim Pol 60: 175-182.
• Wainwright M, Wickramasinghe NC, Rose CE, Baker AJ (2014) Recovery of cometary microorganisms from the stratosphere. Journal of Cosmology 22: 10183-10188. doi: 10.4172/2332-2519.1000110

Identifiers

DOI

10.18388/abp.2015_1119