ASSEMBLIES OF FREE AMINO-ACIDS AS POSSIBLE PREBIOTIC CATALYSTS

Our understanding of how life emerged on Earth has much to do with spe culations about the ways in which prebiotic catalysts could have been formed. Since enzymes, the contemporary biological catalysts, are poly mers of amino acids, we looked at the possible activity of free amino acids as catalysts. In this study it is shown experimentally that mixt ures of free amino acids exert catalytic activities of beta-galactosid ase, carbonic anhydrase, and catalase. We also observed different leve ls of catalytic activty of individual amino acids: some were more effi cient than others. Apparently, assemblies of amino acids which were fo rmed around substrate molecules through weak interactions, could, in p rinciple, catalyze many prebiotic reactions. This might have been one step in the emergence of biological enzymes.