Journal
ORIGINS OF LIFE AND EVOLUTION OF THE BIOSPHERE
Volume 30, Issue 6, Pages 539-548Publisher
KLUWER ACADEMIC PUBL
DOI: 10.1023/A:1026523222285
Keywords
evolution of methyl transfer; formaldehyde; prebiotic; reductive methylation
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An hypothesis is presented for the prebiotic origin of methyl groups and the evolution of methyl transfer reactions in living cells. This hypothesis, described in terms of prebiotic and early biotic chemical evolution, is based on experimental observations in our lab and in those of others, and on the mechanisms of enzymatic methyl transfer reactions that occur in living cells. Of particular interest is our demonstration of the reductive methylation of ethanolamine and glycine in aqueous solution by excess formaldehyde. These reactions, involving prebiotic compounds and conditions, are mechanistically analogous to the de novo origin of methyl groups in modern cells by reduction of methylene tetrahydrofolate. Furthermore, modern cellular methyl transfers from S-adenosylmethionine to amine nitrogen may involve formaldehyde as an intermediate and subsequent reductive methylation, analogous to the prebiotic chemistry observed herein.
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