Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

PREBIOTIC CHEMISTRY

From soup to peptides

  • News & Views
  • Published:

From Nature Chemistry

View current issue Submit your manuscript

Proteins are biosynthesized from α-amino acids using hefty biological machinery, but the origin of this process on the early Earth is unclear. Now, a bottom-up approach for forming peptides, taking place under mild, prebiotically-plausible conditions, has been developed. This strategy uses α-aminonitrile precursors, bypassing α-amino acids entirely.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1: Gentle, prebiotically plausible peptide ligation using α-aminonitriles.

References

  1. Miller, S. L. Science 117, 528–529 (1953).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Miller, S. L. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 77, 2351–2361 (1955).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Hanafusa, H. & Akabori, S. Bull. Chem. Soc. Jpn. 32, 626–630 (1959).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Pascal, R. & Rousset, A. in Frontiers of Life (eds Trân Thanh Vân, J., Trân Thanh Vân, K., Mounolou, J. C., Schneider, J. & Mc Kay, C.) 467–468 (Editions Frontières, Gif-sur-Yvette, 1992).

  5. Canavelli, P., Islam, S. & Powner, M. W. Nature 571, 546–549 (2019).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Liu, R. & Orgel, L. E. Nature 389, 52–54 (1997).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Eschenmoser, A. Orig. Life Evol. Biosph. 24, 389–423 (1994).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Blackmond, D. Cold Spring Harb. Perspect. Biol. 11, a032540 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Sutherland, J. D. Nat. Rev. Chem. 1, 0012 (2017).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Hud, N., Cafferty, B. J., Krishnamurthy, R. & Williams, L. D. Chem. Biol. 20, 466–474 (2013).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Szostak, J. W. Nature 459, 171–172 (2009).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratoire de Physique des Interactions Ioniques et Moléculaires, Centre de Saint Jérôme, Aix-Marseille Université, Marseille, France

    Robert Pascal

  2. Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, Santa Barbara, USA

    Irene A. Chen

  3. Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles, USA

    Irene A. Chen

Authors
  1. Robert Pascal
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Irene A. Chen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Robert Pascal or Irene A. Chen.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Pascal, R., Chen, I.A. From soup to peptides. Nat. Chem. 11, 763–764 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41557-019-0318-6

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41557-019-0318-6

  • Springer Nature Limited

Search

Navigation