The Prebiotic C-Terminal Elongation of Peptides Can Be Initiated by N-Carbamoyl Amino Acids

Abstract

The formation of peptides upon 1-ethyl-3-(3-dimethylaminopropyl)carbodiimide (EDC)-promoted activation of N-carbamoylamino acids (CAA), was considered in the scope of our recent works on carbodiimide promoted C-terminus elongation of peptides in a prebiotic context. Thus EDC promoted activation of CAA derivatives of Tyr(Me) or Ala in dilute aqueous medium pH 5.5-6.5 in the presence of excess of AA, resulted in peptide formation by C-terminus activation/elongation. Kinetic results similar to those of EDC-mediated activation of N-acyl-AA lead us to postulate the formation of a 2-amino-5(4H)-oxazolone intermediate by cyclization of the activated CAA, in spite of the absence of epimerization occurred at CAA residues. Thus, in a prebiotic context, CAA may have played a similar role as N-acyl-AA in the initiation of C-terminus peptide elongation.

Keywords: C-terminus activation; amino acids; oxazolones; peptides; reactive intermediates.