A Chemical Model for the Prebiotic Origins of Tetrapyrrole Macrocycles

四吡咯大环化合物益生元起源的化学模型

• 批准号: 0953010
• 负责人: Jonathan Lindsey
• 金额: $ 51万
• 依托单位: North Carolina State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2010
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2010-04-01 至 2013-03-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0953010&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Chemical; Model; Prebiotic; Origins; Tetrapyrrole

The question of how life originated on Earth is one of the most challenging and perplexing problems in science. This project supported by the Chemistry of Life Processes Program will examine simple, plausibly prebiotic chemical reactions that lead from early-Earth available substances to tetrapyrrole macrocycles. All present-day living organisms use a single, universal pathway for the construction of tetrapyrrole molecules. While mimicry of the modern biosynthetic pathway is attractive, this proposal casts a broad net to examine diverse reactions that plausibly can lead to the formation of tetrapyrrole macrocycles, including those of present-day biochemistry as well as analogues with similar properties that could have played a central role in prebiotic chemistry. A thesis here is that there may have been diverse pathways to the critical class of tetrapyrrole macrocycles, including the now modern pathway, which were operative in the prebiotic era. Simple chemical reactions that subsequently transform tetrapyrrole macrocycles and alter their properties, as occurs in the biosynthetic pathways leading to heme and chlorophylls, also will be examined. The broader impacts of this project include deepening our understanding of biogenesis and the role of energy metabolism in the origin of a self-replicating system. Elucidation of critical milestones for the emergence of energy-utilizing systems including photosynthesis, for which tetrapyrrole macrocycles would seem essential, may not only be central to life's origins but may also augment our understanding of the earliest steps in the transformation of the Earth. Perhaps most important is the education and training of students who work on this project, and a related course to be taught by the PI entitled "The Molecular Origins of Life", both of which are expected to spark young scientists' curiosity and deepen their passion for science.

生命如何起源于地球的问题是科学中最具挑战性和最困惑的问题之一。该项目由生命过程的化学计划支持，将检查简单的，合理的益生元化学反应，从早期可用物质到四吡咯的大环。 所有当今的生物体都使用单一的通用途径来构建四吡咯分子。 尽管现代生物合成途径的模仿具有吸引力，但该提案却呈现了广泛的网络，以检查多种反应，这些反应可能导致形成四吡咯的大环，包括当今的生物化学以及具有类似特性的类似物以及可能在中心培养基中具有类似特性的反应。 这里的论点是，四翼型大环（包括现在现代的途径）可能已经有多种途径，这些途径在益生元的时代处于现代途径。 随后将转化四吡俄大环并改变其特性的简单化学反应，就像在导致血红素和叶绿素的生物合成途径中发生的那样。该项目的更广泛的影响包括加深我们对生物发生的理解以及能量代谢在自我复制系统起源中的作用。 阐明关键里程碑是出现在包括光合作用在内的能量利用系统的出现，四吡咯型宏环似乎是必不可少的，不仅可能是生命起源的核心，而且还可能增强我们对地球转变中最早步骤的理解。 也许最重要的是对从事该项目的学生的教育和培训，以及由“生命的分子起源”所教授的相关课程，预计这两者都会激发年轻科学家的好奇心并加深对科学的热情。