Uracil-Catalyzed Synthesis of Acetyl Phosphate: A Photochemical Driver for Protometabolism
✍ Scribed by William J. Hagan Jr.
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 2010
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 170 KB
- Volume
- 11
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 1439-4227
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✦ Synopsis
Abstract
Progress toward a protometabolism (the earliest energy storage networks) has been severely hindered by a shortage of driver reactions, which could have harnessed solar photons or coupled electron sources/sinks on the primordial Earth. Here, it is reported for the first time that thioacetate can be converted into a known metabolite, acetyl phosphate, by ultraviolet light and in aqueous solution at neutral pH. Of more compelling importance, the synthesis is catalyzed by uracil, which suggests that a genetic component may have also facilitated the emergence of metabolic pathways. The chemistry of acetyl phosphate has been extensively studied, and it is known to be a precursor of phosphate esters, pyrophosphate and possibly longer inorganic chains. Moreover, its bifunctional reactivity (as either an acetyl or phosphoryl donor) would have been integral for the first metabolic cycles.