Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-mkpzs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T17:43:45.207Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Anomalous fluctuations and selective extinction in primordial replicators: a ‘struggle for life’ at the origin of biological homochirality

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2020

Savino Longo Open the ORCID record for Savino Longo [Opens in a new window] ,
Miriana Carmela Chincoli  and
Gaia Micca Longo Open the ORCID record for Gaia Micca Longo [Opens in a new window]
Savino Longo*
Affiliation:
Department of Chemistry, Università degli Studi di Bari Aldo Moro, Via Orabona 4 – 70125, Bari, Italy Istituto per la Scienza e Tecnologia dei Plasmi – Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Bari Section, Via Amendola 122/D – 70125, Bari, Italy
Miriana Carmela Chincoli
Affiliation:
Department of Chemistry, Università degli Studi di Bari Aldo Moro, Via Orabona 4 – 70125, Bari, Italy
Gaia Micca Longo
Affiliation:
Department of Chemistry, Università degli Studi di Bari Aldo Moro, Via Orabona 4 – 70125, Bari, Italy Istituto per la Scienza e Tecnologia dei Plasmi – Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Bari Section, Via Amendola 122/D – 70125, Bari, Italy
*
Author for correspondence: Savino Longo, E-mail: savino.longo@uniba.it
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The prevalent presence of a single chiral variant of molecules in live organisms is one of the most distinctive signs of life as a global phenomenon. One of the greatest ambitions of biochemistry and astrobiology is to provide an explanation of this predominance. Several mechanisms were proposed in the past, from the propagation of chirality from a homo-chiral substrate to the amplification of effects associated with electro-weak interactions. Here, a different scenario is proposed: anomalous fluctuations associated with a self-replication scenario can lead to the selective extinction of primordial organisms using one of two enantiomers as an enzyme. These fluctuations arise spontaneously under very general conditions. The idea is based on three key points: (a) the simulation of early biological processes as a ‘board game’; (b) the presence of large fluctuations during an autocatalytic process; (c) the presence of a limited source of chemical energy, inducing a form of competition in a primordial replicator population. In order to demonstrate this mechanism, a computational model is developed, describing the ‘struggle for life’ of two different kinds of primordial replicators on a ‘chessboard’ with periodic boundary conditions; each replicator employs enzymes of different chirality on a non-chiral substrate, thereby with no selective advantage. The replication occurs randomly and with a fixed probability, providing that a sufficient amount of chemical energy is locally available. For the first time, our model includes the local balance of chemical energy in a molecular form on the substrate. The correlation between the chemical energy and the local populations is shown. Results clearly show that strong fluctuations in the number of individuals of each species and subsequent selective extinction events of one of the two species are observed. These studies may contribute to shed light on the most mysterious phase transition that occurred during the biochemical evolution of our planet.

Keywords

Chiralityprimordial lifechemical energyanomalous fluctuationsstochastic modelling
Type
Research Article
Information
International Journal of Astrobiology , Volume 19 , Issue 5 , October 2020 , pp. 386 - 392
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aquilanti, V, Grossi, G, Lombardi, A, Maciel, GS and Palazzetti, F (2011) Aligned molecular collisions and a stereodynamical mechanism for selective chirality. Rendiconti Lincei 22, 125.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Babinec, P and Krempasky, J (1994) Synergetic mechanisms of chiral symmetry breaking in prebiotic evolution. General Physiology and Biophysics 13, 267–267.Google ScholarPubMed
Bergstrom, CA and Reimchen, TE (2003) Asymmetry in structural defenses: insights into selective predation in the wild. Evolution 57, 2128–2138.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Crusats, J, El-Hachemi, Z and Rib, JM (2010) Hydrodynamic effects on chiral induction. Chemical Society Reviews 39, 569–577.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dewdney, AK (1989) Computer recreations, simulated evolution: wherein bugs learn to hunt bacteria. Scientific American 5, 104–107.Google Scholar
Eigen, M and Winkler, R (1993). Laws of the Game: How the Principles of Nature Govern Chance, vol. 10. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Elango, M, Maciel, GS, Palazzetti, F, Lombardi, A and Aquilanti, V (2010) Quantum chemistry of C3H6O molecules: structure and stability, isomerization pathways, and chirality changing mechanisms. Journal of Physical Chemistry A 114, 9864–9874.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Epstein, IR (1995) The consequences of imperfect mixing in autocatalytic chemical and biological systems. Nature 374, 321–327.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Frank, FC (1953) On spontaneous asymmetric synthesis. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta 11, 459–463.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gardiner, CW (1985) Handbook of Stochastic Methods, vol. 3. Berlin: Springer, pp. 2–20.Google Scholar
Gayathri, VS and Rao, M (2007) Fluctuation-induced chiral symmetry breaking in autocatalytic reaction–diffusion systems. EPL (Europhysics Letters) 80, 28001.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hegstrom, RA and Kondepudi, DK (1990) Handedness of the universe. Scientific American 262, 108–115.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kafri, R, Markovitch, O and Lancet, D (2010) Spontaneous chiral symmetry breaking in early molecular networks. Biology Direct 5, 38.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kondepudi, DK and Nelson, GW (1985) Weak neutral currents and the origin of biomolecular chirality. Nature 314, 438–441.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Loehr, J, Leinonen, T, Herczeg, G, O'Hara, RB and Meril, J (2012) Heritability of asymmetry and lateral plate number in the threespine stickleback. PLoS One 7, e39843.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lombardi, A, Palazzetti, F, Maciel, GS, Aquilanti, V and Sevryuk, MB (2011) Simulation of oriented collision dynamics of simple chiral molecules. International Journal of Quantum Chemistry 111, 1651–1658.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Longo, S (1997) Chemical instabilities in the XeCl laser discharge: a stochastic approach. Chemical Physics Letters 268, 306–312.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Longo, S (2009) Complex systems and creativity. In Science, Mind, and Creativity: The Bari Symposium, L'Abate, De Giacomo, Capitelli and Longo edn, New York: Nova Science.Google Scholar
Longo, S and Coppola, CM (2013) Stochastic models of chiral symmetry breaking in autocatalytic networks with anomalous fluctuations. Rendiconti Lincei 24, 277–281.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meierhenrich, U (2008) A new record for chiral molecules in meteorites. In Amino Acids and the Asymmetry of Life. Advances in Astrobiology and Biogeophysics, Springer edn, Berlin: Springer.Google Scholar
Metcalfe, G and Ottino, JM (1994) Autocatalytic processes in mixing flows. Physical Review Letters 72, 2875.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ottino, JM and Ottino, JM (1989) The Kinematics of Mixing: Stretching, Chaos, and Transport, vol. 3. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Palazzetti, F, Maciel, GS, Lombardi, A, Grossi, G and Aquilanti, V (2012) The astrochemical observatory: molecules in the laboratory and in the cosmos. Journal of the Chinese Chemical Society 59, 1045–1052.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pizzarello, S, Zolensky, M and Turk, KA (2003) Nonracemic isovaline in the Murchison meteorite: Chiral distribution and mineral association. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 67, 1589–1595.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Prigogine, I (1981) From Being to Becoming, Time and Complexity in the Physical Sciences. New York: W.H. Freeman & Co.Google Scholar
Quack, M (2012) Molecular parity violation and chirality: the asymmetry of life and the symmetry violations in physics. In Quantum Systems in Chemistry and Physics. Dordrecht: Springer, pp. 47–76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Szurgot, M (2012) Chiral symmetry breaking in unstirred crystallization. Crystal Research and Technology 47, 109–114.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van Kampen, NG (1981) Stochastic Processes in Physics and Chemistry. North Holland, Amsterdam.Google Scholar