Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2019 Jan;87(1):1-3.
doi: 10.1007/s00239-018-9879-z. Epub 2019 Jan 2.

Amino Acids in Life: A Prebiotic Division of Labor

Jason Allen Davidson  1
Affiliations

Amino Acids in Life: A Prebiotic Division of Labor

Jason Allen Davidson. J Mol Evol. 2019 Jan.

Abstract

There are more than 20 amino acids used in Biology, and their utilization is enigmatic. Here, I propose that there was a prebiotic division of labor between two subsets of amino acids. The first set is the alpha-L set, which includes all the genetically encoded amino acids. These convey heritable information. The second set is all the remaining types, which includes the D-enantiomers incorporated in non-ribosomally encoded peptides and those used in signaling. These convey proximally mediated information about the environment. This division of labor became fixed early in the evolutionary history of life on the Earth.

Keywords: Amino acids; Isomers; Prebiotic chemistry; Signals.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

References

    1. FEBS J. 2008 Jul;275(14):3514-26 - PubMed
    1. Chem Soc Rev. 2012 Aug 21;41(16):5459-72 - PubMed
    1. J Mol Evol. 2015 Apr;80(3-4):143-61 - PubMed
    1. Scientifica (Cairo). 2016;2016:6494621 - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources