Abstract
Simultaneous formation of the adenylates of the 18 amino acids common to protein, followed by cocondensation, has yielded polymers containing all of those amino acids. The condensation occurred rapidly at room temperature above pH 7. The activated amino acids were reacted with thermally synthesized polyanhydro-α-amino acids to yield polymers of substantially increased size. The modified polyamino acids form micron-sized particles which demonstrate internal synthesis by growth and budding. These particles are stable over a wide range of pH.
From thermal polyamino acids alone, answers have earlier been obtained, in principle, to questions of the primordial origin of enzymes, cellular structure, membranes, systematic anhydroamino acid sequences, and propagation of microsystems. Such a model is largely heterotrophic; the mixed adenylate condensation provides, in principle, a partial answer to the origin of syntheses of peptide bonds within protocellular structures.
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