The Conservation of Homochirality and the Prebiotic Synthesis of Amino Acids

Harold J. Morowitz

Working Papers from Santa Fe Institute

Abstract: In autotrophs all synthetic pathways for amino acids except that for glutamic acid involve a transamination reaction with a glutamate donor. It is argued that these reactions conserve chirality so that the homochirality of glutamate generates 18 amino acids of the same stereospecificity. The role of pyridoxal phosphate is explored with respect to biotic and prebiotic transamination. The reason for amino acids and sugars having different stereospecificities is discussed for synthesis of essential compounds involving both an amino acid and a sugar.

Date: 2001-03
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:wop:safiwp:01-03-017

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Working Papers from Santa Fe Institute Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Thomas Krichel ().