The role of carbohydrates at the origin of homochirality in biosystems

Orig Life Evol Biosph. 2013 Oct;43(4-5):391-409. doi: 10.1007/s11084-013-9342-5. Epub 2013 Aug 31.

Abstract

Pasteur has demonstrated that the chiral components in a racemic mixture can separate in homochiral crystals. But with a strong chiral discrimination the chiral components in a concentrated mixture can also phase separate into homochiral fluid domains, and the isomerization kinetics can then perform a symmetry breaking into one thermodynamical stable homochiral system. Glyceraldehyde has a sufficient chiral discrimination to perform such a symmetry breaking. The requirement of a high concentration of the chiral reactant(s) in an aqueous solution in order to perform and maintain homochirality; the appearance of phosphorylation of almost all carbohydrates in the central machinery of life; the basic ideas that the biochemistry and the glycolysis and gluconeogenesis contain the trace of the biochemical evolution, all point in the direction of that homochirality was obtained just after- or at a phosphorylation of the very first products of the formose reaction, at high concentrations of the reactants in phosphate rich compartments in submarine hydrothermal vents. A racemic solution of D,L-glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate could be the template for obtaining homochiral D-glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate(aq) as well as L-amino acids.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Amino Acids / chemistry*
  • Carbohydrates / chemistry*
  • Evolution, Chemical*
  • Kinetics
  • Origin of Life*
  • Stereoisomerism
  • Thermodynamics

Substances

  • Amino Acids
  • Carbohydrates
  • formose sugars