Department of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA.
J Biomol Struct Dyn. 2013;31(8):888-95. doi: 10.1080/07391102.2012.718528. Epub 2012 Sep 11.
The mica hypothesis for the origin of life proposes that life originated between the sheets of muscovite mica. This paper elaborates on two ways that life resembles what might have originated between mica sheets. First, enzymes: The configurations and dynamics of enzymes, with their substrates, cofactors, and sometimes transition metal ions, often resemble mica sheets, with their open-and-shut motions, acting on small molecules between them, sometimes assisted by transition metal ions. Second, organisms: Mica world had the potential to be a community or ecosystem of prebiotic organisms in a way unlike other models for the origin of life.
云母起源假说认为生命起源于白云母片层之间。本文详细阐述了生命与可能起源于云母片之间有两点相似之处。首先，酶：酶及其底物、辅因子，有时还有过渡金属离子的结构和动态，常常类似于白云母片，具有开合运动，作用于它们之间的小分子，有时由过渡金属离子辅助。其次，生物体：云母世界有可能成为前生物生物体的群落或生态系统，这与生命起源的其他模型不同。
