Biased versus unbiased randomness in homo-polymers and copolymers of amino acids in the prebiotic world

• Authors: Fernando G. Mosqueira , Alicia Negron , Sergio Ramos , Carlos Polanco
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

The polymerization of amino acids under anhydrous prebiotic conditions was first studied several decades ago. Here we use a stochastic model stressing the relevant role of the polarity of amino acids in the formation of oligopeptides in a prebiotic milieu. Our goal is to outline the predominance of co-polypeptides over homo-polypeptides, resulting not only from the randomness, but also from polarity properties of amino acids. Our results conclude that there was a higher probability of the formation of co-polypeptides than of homo-polymers. Besides, we may hypothesize that the former would have a more ample spectrum of possible chemical functions than homo-polypeptides.

Keywords

EN

polarity of amino acids; homo-peptides; prebiotic co-polypeptides; lysine; Markov chain; prebiotic homo polymerization of amino acids

• Publisher: Polish Biochemical Society
• Journal: Acta Biochimica Polonica
• Year: 2012
• Volume: 59
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 543-547

Dates

published

2012

received

2011-10-17

revised

2012-06-13

accepted

2012-10-15

(unknown)

2012-10-26

Contributors

author

Fernando G. Mosqueira

• Direccion General de Divulgacion de la Ciencia, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Mexico, Mexico

author

Alicia Negron

• Instituto de Ciencias Nucleares, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de México, México, Mexico

author

Sergio Ramos

• Instituto de Ciencias Nucleares, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de México, México, Mexico

author

Carlos Polanco

• Departamento de Matematicas, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de México, México, Mexico

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