He does have the correct *contemplative, far-away look* on his home page:
http://nick-lane.net/ *Acetyl phosphate as a primordial energy currency at the origin of life* Alexandra Whicher, Eloi Camprubi, Silvana Pinna, Barry Herschy and Nick Lane Orig Life Evol Biosph (2018) https://doi.org/10.1007/s11084-018-9555-8 *Abstract* Metabolism is primed through the formation of thioesters via acetyl CoA and the phosphorylation of substrates by ATP. Prebiotic equivalents such as methyl thioacetate and acetyl phosphate have been proposed to catalyse analogous reactions at the origin of life, but their propensity to hydrolyse challenges this view. Here we show that acetyl phosphate (AcP) can be synthesised in water within minutes from thioacetate (but not methyl thioacetate) under ambient conditions. AcP is stable over hours, depending on temperature, pH and cation content, giving it an ideal poise between stability and reactivity. We show that AcP can phosphorylate nucleotide precursors such as ribose to ribose-5-phosphate and adenosine to adenosine monophosphate, at modest (~2%) yield in water, and at a range of pH. AcP can also phosphorylate ADP to ATP in water over several hours at 50 °C. But AcP did not promote polymerization of either glycine or AMP. The amino group of glycine was preferentially acetylated by AcP, especially at alkaline pH, hindering the formation of polypeptides. AMP formed small stacks of up to 7 monomers, but these did not polymerise in the presence of AcP in aqueous solution. We conclude that AcP can phosphorylate biologically meaningful substrates in a manner analogous to ATP, promoting the origins of metabolism, but is unlikely to have driven polymerization of macromolecules such as polypeptides or RNA in free solution. This is consistent with the idea that a period of monomer (cofactor) catalysis preceded the emergence of polymeric enzymes or ribozymes at the origin of life. http://nick-lane.net/publications/ @philipthrift On Sunday, July 7, 2019 at 1:33:05 AM UTC-5, Brent wrote: > > I think Nick Lane's metabolism-first theory, which he discusses in his > book "The Vital Question", is more plausible. There's good online talk > by Lane https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhPrirmk8F4. > > Brent > > On 7/6/2019 8:32 AM, smitra wrote: > > https://arxiv.org/abs/1711.01945 > > > > > > A followup article which focuses more on the mathematical issues is > > under construction, the key points are: > > > > 1) In interstellar space, simple organic compounds captured in small > > ice grains were subject to UV radiation and occasional heating due to > > incident cosmic rays (CR). This induced a bond percolation process > > that led to large clusters of organic molecules on a time scale of > > $\gtrsim 10^6$ years. > > > > 2) On a proto-planet, such clusters can merge into loosely bound > > superclusters. The deep interior of such superclusters can provide for > > chemical micro-environments in which conventional models of > > abiogenesis driven by cold-warm cycles can be considered. > > > > 3) Rapid fluctuations in the chemical potentials of certain chemical > > compounds that can penetrate the supercluster, will be damped down. > > Long term gradual and periodic changes then dominate, allowing any > > biochemical systems inside the superclusters to more easily evolve > > toward exploiting the conditions in their micro-environments, compared > > to a similar system in the outside environment. > > > > 4) As the supercluster breaks up, the system experiences more of the > > shorter term fluctuations that has more of a random character. The > > system can then evolve to adapt to these fluctuations, when doing so > > right from the start might not have worked. > > > > 5) On a small fraction of the superclusters these processes led to > > microbes capable of surviving in the outside environment. > > > > 6) Microbes were transferred to Earth via a collision of a > > microbe-containing proto-planet with the Moon. Fragments containing > > microbes resulting from the giant impact rained down on the Earth. > > > > > > Saibal > > > > On 06-07-2019 10:48, 'Cosmin Visan' via Everything List wrote: > >> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4sP1E1Jd_Y [1] > >> > >> -- > >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google > >> Groups "Everything List" group. > >> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, > >> send an email to everyth...@googlegroups.com <javascript:>. > >> To view this discussion on the web visit > >> > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/everything-list/a43531f9-d34c-4806-97f0-7665befc7e95%40googlegroups.com > > >> > >> [2]. > >> > >> > >> Links: > >> ------ > >> [1] > >> > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4sP1E1Jd_Y&fbclid=IwAR03cRVkBTOeYnPldcuLzFGCNiWqCR0dE5FENXF9JJtRlk75sbq5Dh2wxcY > > >> > >> [2] > >> > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/everything-list/a43531f9-d34c-4806-97f0-7665befc7e95%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer > > >> > > > > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to everything-list+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/everything-list/aea59b89-ea2d-42c5-ade8-38bb11744cdd%40googlegroups.com.
