Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 27, 2026

Enzymatic Cascade Reactions for the Synthesis of Chiral Amino Alcohols from L-lysine
Published on: February 16, 2018
Selective adsorption of L- and D-amino acids on calcite: Implications for biochemical homochirality
R M Hazen1, T R Filley, G A Goodfriend
1Geophysical Laboratory and National Aeronautics and Space Administration Astrobiology Institute, Carnegie Institution of Washington, 5251 Broad Branch Road NW, Washington, DC 20015, USA. hazen@gl.ciw.edu
Abstract:
The emergence of biochemical homochirality was a key step in the origin of life, yet prebiotic mechanisms for chiral separation are not well constrained. Here we demonstrate a geochemically plausible scenario for chiral separation of amino acids by adsorption on mineral surfaces. Crystals of the common rock-forming mineral calcite (CaCO(3)), when immersed in a racemic aspartic acid solution, display significant adsorption and chiral selectivity of d- and l-enantiomers on pairs of mirror-related crystal-growth surfaces. This selective adsorption is greater on crystals with terraced surface textures, which indicates that d- and l-aspartic acid concentrate along step-like linear growth features. Thus, selective adsorption of linear arrays of d- and l-amino acids on calcite, with subsequent condensation polymerization, represents a plausible geochemical mechanism for the production of homochiral polypeptides on the prebiotic Earth.
Related Concept Videos
Ligand Binding Sites
Protein-ligand interactions are quite specific; even though numerous potential ligands surround a cellular protein at any given time, only a particular ligand can bind to that protein. Moreover, a ligand binds only to a dedicated area on the surface of the protein, known as the...
Ligand Binding and Linkage
Prochirality
Chirality in Nature
Allosteric Proteins-ATCase
Aspartate transcarbamoylase (ATCase) is a cytosolic enzyme that catalyzes the condensation of L-aspartate and carbamoyl phosphate to N-carbamoyl-L-aspartate. This reaction is the first step in pyrimidine biosynthesis. UTP and CTP, the end products of the pyrimidine synthesis pathway,...
Affinity Chromatography

