Metals promote sequences of the reverse Krebs cycle.

ABSTRACT: The reverse tricarboxylic acid (rTCA) cycle (also known as the reverse Krebs cycle) is a central anabolic biochemical pathway whose origins are proposed to trace back to geochemistry, long before the advent of enzymes, RNA or cells, and whose imprint remains intimately embedded in the structure of core metabolism. If it existed, a primordial version of the rTCA cycle would necessarily have been catalysed by naturally occurring minerals at the earliest stage of the transition from geochemistry to biochemistry. Here, we report non-enzymatic promotion of multiple reactions of the rTCA cycle in consecutive sequence, whereby 6 of its 11 reactions were promoted by Zn²⁺, Cr³⁺ and Fe⁰ in an acidic aqueous solution. Two distinct three-reaction sequences were achieve

SUBMITTER: Muchowska KB 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5659384 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature