Metal Catalysts and the Origin of Life
Metal Catalysts and the Origin of Life
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DOI：
10.2113/gselements.12.6.413
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发表时间：
2016-12-01
期刊：
影响因子：
4.5
通讯作者：
Mansy, Sheref S.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Belmonte, Luca;Mansy, Sheref S.
我们所知道的生命完全依赖于金属离子。金属离子的配位体驱动新陈代谢，金属中心通常形成酶的活性位点，金属离子配位在很大程度上负责蛋白质和RNA的折叠。这种对金属离子的依赖可能反映了细胞生命出现的环境。然而，长链生物聚合物并不存在于生命起源前的地球上。因此，导致地球第一个细胞的化学反应必须利用后来被RNA和蛋白质取代的替代催化剂。在这里，我们讨论了自由金属离子，矿物质和生物酶催化剂之间的相似性，以及细胞生命如何利用益生元金属络合物。
Life as we know it is completely dependent on metal ions. Gradients of metal ions drive metabolism, metal centers often form the active sites of enzymes, and metal-ion coordination is largely responsible for protein and RNA folding. This dependence on metal ions likely reflects the environment from which cellular life emerged. However, long chain biological polymers were not present on prebiotic Earth. Therefore, the chemical reactions leading to Earth's first cells must have made use of alternative catalysts that were later superseded by RNA and protein. Here, we discuss the similarities between free metal ions, minerals, and biological enzyme catalysts, and how cellular life could have exploited prebiotic metallocomplexes.