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Homochirality and life

W A Bonner1

  • 1Department of Chemistry, Stanford University, CA 94305, USA.

EXS
|February 9, 1999
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Homochirality is essential for life's building blocks. Terrestrial mechanisms for chiral molecule genesis are implausible; an extraterrestrial source via asymmetric photolysis on interstellar dust grains is proposed.

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Area of Science:

  • Astrobiology
  • Origin of Life Studies
  • Organic Chemistry

Background:

  • Homochirality is critical for life's essential biopolymers, proteins and nucleic acids.
  • The early Earth's prebiotic environment was harsh, marked by intense cometary impacts.
  • Existing terrestrial abiotic mechanisms for generating chiral molecules are deemed implausible under these conditions.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To evaluate historical abiotic mechanisms for chiral molecule genesis on early Earth.
  • To propose a novel extraterrestrial hypothesis for the origin of homochiral molecules on Earth.
  • To explain the amplification and concentration of these molecules for further chemical evolution.

Main Methods:

  • Review and evaluation of terrestrial abiotic mechanisms for homochirality.

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  • Presentation of a hypothesis involving asymmetric photolysis of interstellar organic mantles.
  • Discussion of extraterrestrial delivery via comets/asteroids and terrestrial amplification mechanisms.

    • Main Results:

    • Terrestrial abiotic mechanisms are considered inapplicable to the early Earth's environment.
    • Asymmetric photolysis of interstellar dust grain mantles by polarized synchrotron radiation is proposed as a source.
    • Low enantiomeric excesses (e.e.s) are delivered to Earth and subsequently amplified.

    Conclusions:

    • An extraterrestrial origin for homochiral molecules is a plausible solution to the limitations of terrestrial mechanisms.
    • The hypothesis is supported by observations of excess L-amino acids in meteorites.
    • This extraterrestrial input could have seeded the process leading to life's biomolecules.