Workshop on Catalytic Mechanisms and the Emergence of Metabolic Networks in Biogenesis, May 23-25, 2012

为期三天的关于生物发生中的催化机制和新陈代谢网络的出现的研讨会将于5月份在弗吉尼亚州阿灵顿举行，该研讨会将解决理解生命起源的长期问题之一。问题是，当代生物催化剂是由单体组成的大分子，需要生物催化剂才能合成。过去的二十年已经指出了解决这一困难的方法；催化不限于大分子，但可以在相对较小的有机分子中找到，也可以在过渡金属与也可能是小有机分子的配体上键合的过渡金属络合物中找到。代谢物的相对稀疏性，特别是对原核生物来说，表明自催化网络在小分子网络中充当全局吸引子的必要性。为了发展产生生物圈的代谢网络的理论，有必要了解催化机制及其在产生代谢网络中的作用。这些研究的背景是材料科学家、工业化学家、有机化学家、酶学家和量子物理化学家的工作。这些都是成熟的学科，往往彼此之间几乎没有什么关系，更不用说与对生物圈出现感兴趣的生物学家有关系了。由于还不清楚前大分子催化的哪些方面最重要，因此让所有这些方面的专家全面了解问题是很重要的。会议将有这些学科的专家参加，以解决生命出现过程中与自动催化有关的问题。

The three-day Workshop on Catalytic Mechanisms and the Emergence of Metabolic Networks in Biogenesis to be held in May, in Arlington, VA will address one of the longstanding problems in understanding the origin of life. The problem is that contemporary biocatalysts are macromolecules made of monomers which require biocatalysts for their synthesis. The past twenty years have pointed to the way out of this difficulty; catalysis is not confined to macromolecules but may be found in relatively small organic molecules as well as in complexes of transition metals coordinately bonded to ligands that may also be small organic molecules. The relative sparseness of metabolomes, especially for prokaryotes, suggests the necessity of autocatalytic networks that act as global attractors in the networks of small molecules. In order to develop a theory of metabolic networks that gave rise to the biosphere it is necessary to understand catalytic mechanisms and their role in generating metabolic networks. The background for these studies is the work of material scientists, industrial chemists, organic chemists, enzymologists, and quantum physical chemists. These are mature disciplines that often have little to do with each other and even less to do with biologists interested in the emergence of the biosphere. Since it is not yet clear as to which aspects of pre-macromolecular catalysis are of most significance, it is important to have experts in all of these to get a full view of the problem. The meeting will involve experts in these disciplines to address the questions related to autocatalysis during the emergence of life.