English

Toward homochiral protocells in noncatalytic peptide systems

Populations and Evolution 2015-05-13 v2 Biological Physics Biomolecules

Abstract

The activation-polymerization-epimerization-depolymerization (APED) model of Plasson et al. has recently been proposed as a mechanism for the evolution of homochirality on prebiotic Earth. The dynamics of the APED model in two-dimensional spatially-extended systems is investigated for various realistic reaction parameters. It is found that the APED system allows for the formation of isolated homochiral proto-domains surrounded by a racemate. A diffusive slowdown of the APED network such as induced through tidal motion or evaporating pools and lagoons leads to the stabilization of homochiral bounded structures as expected in the first self-assembled protocells.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.0810.5398,
  title  = {Toward homochiral protocells in noncatalytic peptide systems},
  author = {Marcelo Gleiser and Sara Imari Walker},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0810.5398},
  year   = {2015}
}

Comments

10 pages, 5 figures