College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences, Glasgow University, Glasgow G128QQ, UK.
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91109, USA.
Genes (Basel). 2011 Sep 26;2(4):671-88. doi: 10.3390/genes2040671.
Considering how biological macromolecules first evolved, probably within a marine environment, it seems likely the very earliest peptides were not encoded by nucleic acids, or at least not via the genetic code as we know it. An objective of the present work is to demonstrate that sequence-independent peptides, or peptides with variable and unreliable lengths and sequences, have the potential to perform a variety of chemically useful functions such as anion and cation binding and membrane and channel formation as well as simple types of catalysis. These functions tend to be performed with the assistance of the main chain CONH atoms rather than the more variable or limited side chain atoms of the peptides presumed to exist then.
考虑到生物大分子最初可能是在海洋环境中进化的，因此最早的肽可能不是由核酸编码的，或者至少不是我们所知道的遗传密码编码的。目前这项工作的目的是证明序列非依赖性肽或具有可变和不可靠长度和序列的肽，具有执行各种化学有用功能的潜力，例如阴离子和阳离子结合以及膜和通道形成以及简单类型的催化。这些功能往往是在主链 CONH 原子的协助下完成的，而不是在当时假定存在的更具变异性或有限的肽侧链原子的协助下完成的。
