Sprecher
Beschreibung
Roland Riek
Life is a complex phenomenon resulting from dynamic and multifaceted interactions among various molecules, primarily nucleic acids, proteins, and lipids. Here, the chemical evolution to life is explored under the hypothesis of the interplay between peptide amyloids, nucleic acids and fatty acid membranes. Peptide amyloids, with their repetitive structure composed of intermolecular β‐strands, present thereby an interesting candidate for the first replicative chemical entity with biological potential. Their minimal requirements concerning amino acid composition and peptide length, combined with unique properties such as exceptional stability and catalytic activity, make them highly relevant in this context. Another key feature of amyloids is their ability to serve as templates for Amyloids can act as chemical templates in ligating shorter peptide fragments, including self‐correction facilitated by the cross‐β fold. In addition, the repetitive structure of the amyloid is able to serve increased activities through avidity and cooperativity with other repetitive molecules such as RNA and fatty acid vesicles, which also builds the basis for catalytic activities such as ATP synthesis from ADP and activated phosphate.