AMINO-ACID-SEQUENCE PREFERENCES OF THE SALT-INDUCED PEPTIDE FORMATIONREACTION IN COMPARISON TO ARCHAIC CELL PROTEIN-COMPOSITION

The salt-induced peptide formation (SIPF) reaction has been applied to a number of not yet investigated amino acids, leading to an overview of preferred peptide linkages resulting from this reaction, which is a t present the simplest and most universal known possibility of a prebi otic peptide formation in chemical evolution. These relative preferenc es of linkages in the SIPF reaction have been compared with the relati ve occurrence of amino acid pairing in the proteins of archaebacteria and prokaryotic cells. The similarity resulting from this comparison l ends strong support to the assumption that salt-induced peptide format ion may have supplied the basic units for the construction of protein precursors for the first primitive cells in evolution.