Emergence of function and selection from recursively programmed polymerisation reactions in mineral environments

Doran, D., Abul-Haija, Y. M. and Cronin, L. (2019) Emergence of function and selection from recursively programmed polymerisation reactions in mineral environments. Angewandte Chemie (International Edition), 58(33), pp. 11253-11256. (doi: 10.1002/anie.201902287) (PMID:31206983) (PMCID:PMC6772075)

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Abstract

Living systems are characterised by an ability to sustain chemical reaction networks far‐from‐equilibrium. It is likely that life first arose through a process of continual disruption of equilibrium states in recursive reaction networks, driven by periodic environmental changes allowing the emergence of a memory. Herein, we report the emergence of proto‐enzymatic function from recursive polymerisation reactions using amino acids and glycolic acid over four wet‐dry cycles. Reactions are kept out of equilibrium by diluting products 9:1 in fresh starting solution at the end of each recursive cycle, and the development of complex high molecular weight species is explored using a new metric, the Mass Index, which allows the complexity of the system to be explored as a function of cycle. This process is carried out on a range of different mineral environments. We explore the hypothesis that disrupting equilibrium via recursive cycling imposes a selection pressure and subsequent boundary conditions on products, which may otherwise be prone to uncontrolled combinatorial explosion. After just four reaction cycles, product mixtures from recursive reactions exhibit greater catalytic activity and truncation of product space towards higher molecular weight species compared to non‐recursive controls.

Item Type:Articles
Status:Published
Refereed:Yes
Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID:Abul-Haija, Yousef and DORAN, DAVID and Cronin, Professor Lee
Authors: Doran, D., Abul-Haija, Y. M., and Cronin, L.
College/School:College of Science and Engineering > School of Chemistry
Journal Name:Angewandte Chemie (International Edition)
Publisher:Wiley
ISSN:1433-7851
ISSN (Online):1521-3773
Published Online:17 June 2019
Copyright Holders:Copyright © 2019 The Authors
First Published:First published in Angewandte Chemie (International Edition) 58(33):11253-11256
Publisher Policy:Reproduced under a Creative Commons License

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