NASA Logo

NTRS

NTRS - NASA Technical Reports Server

Back to Results
Cooperation of catalysts and templatesIn order to understand how self-reproducing molecules could have originated on the primitive Earth or extraterrestrial bodies, it would be useful to find laboratory models of simple molecules which are able to carry out processes of catalysis and templating. Furthermore, it may be anticipated that systems in which several components are acting cooperatively to catalyze each other's synthesis will have different behavior with respect to natural selection than those of purely replicating systems. As the major focus of this work, laboratory models are devised to study the influence of short peptide catalysts on template reactions which produce oligonucleotides or additional peptides. Such catalysts could have been the earliest protoenzymes of selective advantage produced by replicating oligonucleotides. Since this is a complex problem, simpler systems are also studied which embody only one aspect at a time, such as peptide formation with and without a template, peptide catalysis of nontemplated peptide synthesis, and model reactions for replication of the type pioneered by Orgel.
Document ID
19860017399
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
White, D. H.
(Santa Clara Univ. CA, United States)
Kanavarioti, A.
(Santa Clara Univ. CA, United States)
Nibley, C. W.
(Santa Clara Univ. CA, United States)
Macklin, J. W.
(Washington Univ. Seattle., United States)
Date Acquired
August 12, 2013
Publication Date
May 1, 1986
Publication Information
Publication: NASA, Washington Second Symposium on Chemical Evolution and the Origin and Evolution of Life
Subject Category
Space Biology
Accession Number
86N26871
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.
Document Inquiry

Available Downloads

There are no available downloads for this record.
No Preview Available