Journal
PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY A-MATHEMATICAL PHYSICAL AND ENGINEERING SCIENCES
Volume 375, Issue 2109, Pages -Publisher
ROYAL SOC
DOI: 10.1098/rsta.2016.0357
Keywords
protoenzyme; synzyme; hyperbranched polymers; origin of life; functional polymers; messy chemistry
Categories
Funding
- Simons Foundation Collaboration on the Origin of Life Fellowship [SCOL 292864]
- World Premier International Research Center Initiative (WPI), MEXT, Japan
- NASA Astrobiology Institute award
- Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research [17K01943] Funding Source: KAKEN
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Enzymes are biopolymeric complexes that catalyse biochemical reactions and shape metabolic pathways. Enzymes usually work with small molecule cofactors that actively participate in reaction mechanisms and complex, usually globular, polymeric structures capable of specific substrate binding, encapsulation and orientation. Moreover, the globular structures of enzymes possess cavities with modulated microenvironments, facilitating the progression of reaction(s). The globular structure is ensured by long folded protein or RNA strands. Synthesis of such elaborate complexes has proven difficult under prebiotically plausible conditions. We explore here that catalysis may have been performed by alternative polymeric structures, namely hyperbranched polymers. Hyper-branched polymers are relatively complex structures that can be synthesized under prebiotically plausible conditions; their globular structure is ensured by virtue of their architecture rather than folding. In this study, we probe the ability of tertiary amine-bearing hyperbranched polyesters to form hydrophobic pockets as a reaction-promoting medium for the Kemp elimination reaction. Our results show that polyesters formed upon reaction between glycerol, triethanolamine and organic acid containing hydrophobic groups, i.e. adipic and methylsuccinic acid, are capable of increasing the rate of Kemp elimination by a factor of up to 3 over monomeric triethanolamine. This article is part of the themed issue ' Re-conceptualizing the origins of life'.
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