Metals in Prebiotic Catalysis: A Possible Evolutionary Pathway for the Emergence of Metalloproteins.

ABSTRACT: Proteinaceous catalysts found in extant biology are products of life that were potentially derived through prolonged periods of evolution. Given their complexity, it is reasonable to assume that they were not accessible to prebiotic chemistry as such. Nevertheless, the dependence of many enzymes on metal ions or metal-ligand cores suggests that catalysis relevant to biology could also be possible with just the metal centers. Given their availability on the Hadean/Archean Earth, it is fair to conjecture that metal ions could have constituted the first forms of catalysts. A slow increase of complexity that was facilitated through the provision of organic ligands and amino acids/peptides possibly allowed for further evolution and diversification, eventually demarcating them into specific func

SUBMITTER: Aithal A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9933472 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature