Protopeptide backbone affects assembly in aqueous solutions.

ABSTRACT: One of the most fascinating mysteries in the field of origins of life concerns the driving force that led to the selection of today's 20 universal _L-alpha amino acids in biology. An essential aspect of life's emergence involves the formation of compartments, which offer encapsulation for target molecules and provide protection from hydrolysis in aqueous environments. Thus, polymers capable of assembly may have had a chemical evolutionary advantage over polymers that lacked this ability. We postulated that primordial peptide assembly could be one of the driving forces that led to the chemical selection of alpha amino acids in life today. To test this hypothesis, we generated depsipeptides, oligomers composed of ester bonds and peptide bonds that form readily under mild drying con

SUBMITTER: Fisher S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12519194 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature