Nanita Sergio C, Cooks R Graham
Purdue University, Department of Chemistry, 560 Oval Drive, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA.
Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2006 Jan 16;45(4):554-69. doi: 10.1002/anie.200501328.
The emergence of homochirality continues to be one of the most challenging topics associated with the origin of life. One possible scenario is that aggregates of amino acids might have been involved in a sequence of chemical events that led to chiral biomolecules in self-replicating systems, that is, to homochirogenesis. Serine is the amino acid of principal interest, since it forms "magic-number" ionic clusters composed of eight amino acid units, and the clusters have a remarkable preference for homochirality. These serine octamer clusters (Ser8) can be generated under simulated prebiotic conditions and react selectively with other biomolecules. These observations led to the hypothesis that serine reactions were responsible for the first chiral selection in nature which was then passed through chemical reactions to other amino acids, saccharides, and peptides. This Review evaluates the chemistry of Ser8 clusters and the experimental evidence that supports their possible role in homochirogenesis.
同手性的出现仍然是与生命起源相关的最具挑战性的话题之一。一种可能的情况是，氨基酸聚集体可能参与了一系列化学事件，这些事件导致了自我复制系统中手性生物分子的产生，即同手性的产生。丝氨酸是主要关注的氨基酸，因为它形成了由八个氨基酸单元组成的“魔数”离子簇，并且这些簇对同手性有显著的偏好。这些丝氨酸八聚体簇（Ser8）可以在模拟的益生元条件下产生，并与其他生物分子选择性反应。这些观察结果导致了这样一种假设，即丝氨酸反应是自然界中第一次手性选择的原因，然后通过化学反应传递给其他氨基酸、糖类和肽。本综述评估了Ser8簇的化学性质以及支持它们在同手性产生中可能作用的实验证据。
