Chemists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have presented a new theory that explains how
In the middle of the 20th century, researchers showedthat from the primary elements that existed on the early Earth, under the influence of electricity, amino acids are easily formed. In a new work, American chemists have explored how these simple blocks come together to form complex proteins. Scientists have suggested that they come together during periods of environmental change.
To study how amino acids canform bonds during the drying process, chemists created a solution from the amino acid (glycine) and trimetaphosphate, an activator that is naturally formed during volcanic processes. The scientists heated the resulting solution to simulate evaporation and monitored what happened to the amino acids.
The researchers found a two-step process.In the first of these, while the pH of the solution was alkaline, glycine combined into two-molecular units called dimers. During this reaction, protons were released, which turned the solution into a neutral one. In the second step, when evaporation occurred, the dimers began to bind to each other, forming longer peptide chains called oligoglycine.
Scientists believe that a series of similar processescould lead to a gradual complication and accumulation of complex organic substances. For example, amino acids in a volcano-heated hot spring containing an activator first combine into dimers. Then, as the water evaporates and its chemistry changes, the dimers bind and begin to form into longer chains of amino acids.
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