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Energy-Driven Evolution of Prebiotic Chiral Order (Lessons from Dynamic Systems Modeling)

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Genesis - In The Beginning

Part of the book series: Cellular Origin, Life in Extreme Habitats and Astrobiology ((COLE,volume 22))

Abstract

The evolution of biochirality was very long and too complex of a problem to be solved by experimental chemistry alone. We developed an explicit computer model that can be used to produce simulations of prebiotic chiral evolution as a platform for constructing more complex models and also a means to obtain insight in the origin of prebiotic order. This model monitors changes in chiral order in systems that are coupled through feedbacks with an external energy flow. To illustrate the functioning of the model, we analyzed changes in information capacity and used the energy equivalent of a unit of chiral order (E bit) and the half-life of chiral intermediates to determine the external energy flux needed to produce and maintain chiral disequilibrium (E ee). Comparisons of E ee with three energy sources that were common to the environment of protocells (solar light, chemiosmosis, and diffusion combined with redox chemistry) suggest that before complex chiral catalysts have originated, energy was not a limiting factor of chiral evolution. During this phase in the origin of life, the evolution of chiral order was rate limited, and its pace was lower or equal to the rate of abiotic racemization. This limitation, combined with the postulate that biomolecular systems cannot function without large enantiomeric excess, is used to hypothesize that the catalysis of interconversion of enantiomers is a prerequisite of the origin of life.

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Acknowledgment

The authors contributed equally to the work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, Portland State University, Portland, OR, USA

    Radu Popa

  2. Department of Biology, University of Craiova, Craiova, Romania

    Vily Marius Cimpoiasu

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  1. Radu Popa
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  2. Vily Marius Cimpoiasu
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Correspondence to Radu Popa .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Jerusalem, Mevo Hadas 20, Efrat, 90435, Israel

    Joseph Seckbach

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Popa, R., Cimpoiasu, V.M. (2012). Energy-Driven Evolution of Prebiotic Chiral Order (Lessons from Dynamic Systems Modeling). In: Seckbach, J. (eds) Genesis - In The Beginning. Cellular Origin, Life in Extreme Habitats and Astrobiology, vol 22. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-2941-4_28

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