Abstract
Life is introduced as a supramolecular phenomenon and analogies drawn between the interactions associated with biological molecules and those responsible for the formation of supramolecules. The syntheses and structural features of the major biological molecules and supramolecules (amino acids, proteins, sugars, glycoproteins, lipids, RNA and DNA) are described. Self-replication is considered in both biological and artificial systems leading to a discussion about the requirements of replicators, replicator evolution and the orthogonal translation of information from one medium to another. Supramolecular self-replication, self-assembly and self-replicating motifs are described as analogues of biological processes. The relevance of supramolecular chemistry to the origin of life is illustrated with reference to three ‘origin of life’ scenarios: the Lipid World, Iron-Sulfur World and RNA World models. Similarities between supramolecular biology and synthetic biology are explored.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Schrödinger E (1944) What is life?. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Kyte J, Doolittle RF (1982) A simple method for displaying the hydropathic character of a protein. J Mo Biol 157:105–132
Biou V et al (1994) The 2.9 Å crystal structure of T. thermophilus seryl-tRNA synthetase complexed with tRNA(Ser). Science 263:1404–1410 PDBID:1SER
Doyle DA et al (1998) The structure of the potassium channel: molecular basis of K+ conduction and selectivity. Science 280:69–77 PDBID:1BL8
Fischer E (1894) Einflus der Configuration auf die Wirkung der Enzyme. Ber Dtsch Chem Ges 27:2985–2993
Koshland DE (1958) Application of a theory of enzyme specificity to protein synthesis. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 44:98–104
Pearson JG et al (1997) Predicting the chemical shifts in proteins: structure refinement of valine residues by using ab initio and empirical geometry observations. J Am Chem Soc 119:11941–11950
Lange OF et al (2008) Recognition dynamics up to microseconds revealed from an RDC-derived ubiquitin ensemble in solution. Science 320:1471–1475
Mendel G (1865) Versuche über Plflanzen-hybriden read to the Brünn Natural History Society on February 8th and March 8th
Meischer F (1869) Letter I to Wilhelm His Tübingen February 26th 1869. In: W. His et al (eds) Die Histochemischen und Physiologischen Arbeiten von Friedrich Miescher—Aus dem wissenschaftlichen Briefwechsel von F. Miescher vol 1 FCW Vogel Leipzig pp 33–38
Avery OT, MacLeod CM, McCarty M (1944) Studies on the chemical nature of the substance inducing transformation of pneumococcal types. J Exp Med 79:137–158
Levene PA (1919) The structure of yeast nucleic acid. J Biol Chem 40:415–424
Vischer E, Zamenhof S, Chargaff E (1949) Microbial nucleic acids: the desoxypentose nucleic acids of avian tubercle bacilli and yeast. J Biol Chem 177:429–438
Watson JD, Crick FHC (1953) Molecular structure of nucleic acids: A structure for deoxyribose nucleic acid. Nature 171:737–738
Gamow G (1954) Possible relation between deoxyribonucleic acid and protein structures. Nature 173:318
Nirenberg MW, Mattaei JH (1961) The dependence of cell-free protein synthesis in E coli upon naturally occurring or synthetic polyribonucleotides. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 47:1588–1602
Singleton MR, Scaife S, Wigley DB (2001) Structural analysis of DNA replication fork reversal by RecG. Cell. 107:79–89 PDBID:1GM5
Temin HM, Mizutani S (1970) RNA-dependent DNA polymerase in virions of Rous sarcoma virus. Nature 2261211–1213
Baltimore D (1970) RNA-dependent DNA polymerase in virions of RNA tumour viruses. Nature 226:1209–1211
Hadden JM et al (2007) The structural basis of Holliday junction resolution by T7 endonuclease I. Nature 449:621–624 PDBID:2PFJ
Dawkins R (2006) The selfish gene, pp 13–20. Oxford University Press, New York, NY
Drexler KE (2001) Machine-phase nanotechnology. Sci Am 285:66–67
Lehn JM et al (1987) Spontaneous assembly of double-stranded helicates from oligobipyridine ligands and copper(I) cations – structure of an inorganic double helix. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 84:2565–2569
Kramer R et al (1993) Self-assembly, structure, and spontaneous resolution of a trinuclear triple-helix from an oligobipyridine ligand and Ni(II) ions. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl 32:703–706
Quayle JM, Slawin AMZ, Philp D (2002) A structurally simple self-replicating system. Tetrahedron Letts 43:7229–7233
von Neumann J (1961) The general and logical theory of automata. In: Taub AH (ed) John von Neumann collected works Vol V. Pergamon Press, New York, NY
Ibid p 315
Wyler R, De Mendoza J, Rebek J (1993) A synthetic cavity assembles through self-complementary hydrogen-bonds. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl 32:1699–1701
Arduini A et al (1995) Calix[4]arenes blocked in a rigid cone conformation by selective functionalization at the lower rim. J Org Chem 60:1454–1457
Ajami D, Rebek J (2008) Gas behavior in self-assembled capsules. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl 47:6059–6061
Rudzevich V, Rudzevich Y, Böhmer V (2009) Dimerization and self-sorting of tetraurea calix[4]arenes. Synlett 1887–1904
Cram DJ et al (1992) Host-guest complexation 62. Solvophobic and entropic driving forces for forming velcraplexes, which are 4-fold, lock-key dimers in organic media. J Am Chem Soc 114:7748–7765
Liu S, Gibb BC (2008) High-definition self-assemblies driven by the hydrophobic effect: synthesis and properties of a supramolecular nanocapsule. Chem Commun 3709–3716
Schall O, Gokel GW (1994) Molecular boxes derived from crown ethers and nucleotide bases: probes for Hoogsteen vs Watson-Crick H-bonding and other base-base interactions in self-assembly processes. J Am Chem Soc 116:6089–6100
Conn MM, Rebek J (1997) Self-assembling capsules. Chem Rev 97:1647–1668
Timmerman P et al (1997) Noncovalent assembly of functional groups on calix[4]arene molecular boxes. Chem Eur J 3:1823–1832
Rebek J (1994) Synthetic self-replicating molecules. Sci Am 271:48–55
Siegel S et al (2000) Molecular recognition of a dissolved carboxylate by amidinium monolayers at the air-water interface. Progr Coll Poly Sci 115:233–237
von Kiedrowski G (1986) A self-replicating hexadeoxyribonucleotide. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl 25:932–935
Sievers D, von Kiedrowski G (1994) Self-replication of complementary nucleotide-based oligomers. Nature 369:221–224
Lee DH et al (1996) A self-replicating peptide. Nature 382:525–528
Sadownik J, Philp D (2008) A simple synthetic replicator amplifies itself from a dynamic reagent pool. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl 47:9965–9970
Wächtershäuser G (1992) Groundworks for an evolutionary biochemistry – the iron sulfur world. Progr Biophys Mol Biol 58:85–201
Westheimer FH (1986) Nature 319:534–536
Gilbert W (1986) The RNA world. Nature 319:618
Woese C (1968) The genetic code. Harper & Row, New York , NY
Powner MW, Gerland B, Sutherland JD (2009) Synthesis of activated pyramidine ribonucleotides in prebiotically plausible conditions. Nature 459:239–242
Martins Z et al (2008) Extraterrestrial nucleobases in the Murchison meteorite Earth Planet. Sci Lett 270:130–136
Szybalski W, Skalka A (1978) Nobel prizes and restriction enzymes. Gene 4:181–182
Kalscheuer R, Stölting T, Steinbüchel A (2006) Microdiesel: Escherichia coli engineered for fuel production. Microbiol 152:2529–2536
Smith RG, D’Souza N, Nicklin S (2008) A review of biosensors and biologically-inspired systems for explaosives detection. Analyst 133:571–584
Sismour AM, Benner SA (2005) The use of thymidine analogs to improve the replication of an extra DNA base pair: a synthetic biological system. Nucleic Acids Res 33:5640–5646
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2010 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Cragg, P.J. (2010). Supramolecular Chemistry and the Life Sciences. In: Supramolecular Chemistry. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-2582-1_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-2582-1_2
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-90-481-2581-4
Online ISBN: 978-90-481-2582-1
eBook Packages: Chemistry and Materials ScienceChemistry and Material Science (R0)