The origin of biological homochirality.

Origin of Homochirality in Biosystems

Experimental data for a series of central and simple molecules in biosystems show that some amino acids and a simple sugar molecule have a chiral discrimination in favor of homochirality. Models for segregation of racemic mixtures of chiral amphiphiles and lipophiles in aqueous solutions show that the amphiphiles with an active isomerization kinetics can perform a spontaneous break of symmetry ...

Circular Polarization and the Origin of Biomolecular Homochirality

The origin of the homochirality of biological molecules (the fact that living systems use almost exclusively left-handed amino acids and right-handed sugars) has been a puzzle since the last century. The discovery of an excess of left-handed amino acids in the Murchison and Murray meteorites suggests that homochirality re ects a bias that existed in primordial solar-system material before the o...

Chirality and the Origin of Life

The homochirality of biological molecules (the use of only left handed amino acids and only right handed sugars) has long been known to be an important characteristic of life. Current ideas on the origin of life do not explain the origin of homochirality, yet the widely accepted 'RNA world' model cannot work without it. The recent discoveries of chiral asymmetry in the Murchison meteorite, and ...

Concurrent origins of the genetic code and the homochirality of life, and the origin and evolution of biodiversity. Part II: Technical appendix

Here is Part II of my two-part series paper, which provides technical details and evidence for Part I of this paper (see “Concurrent origins of the genetic code and the homochirality of life, and the origin and evolution of biodiversity. Part I: Observations and explanations” on bioRxiv).

Circular polarization in star-formation regions: implications for biomolecular homochirality.

Strong infrared circular polarization resulting from dust scattering in reflection nebulae in the Orion OMC-1 star-formation region has been observed. Circular polarization at shorter wavelengths might have been important in inducing chiral asymmetry in interstellar organic molecules that could be subsequently delivered to the early Earth by comets, interplanetary dust particles, or meteors. Th...

Asymmetric Autocatalysis and the Origin of Homochirality of Biomolecules