论文标题
生活的手性难题
The Chiral Puzzle of Life
论文作者
论文摘要
生物分子选择了两个结构上的手性系统之一，这些系统通过反射中的反射与反射相关。有人提出，这种选择是通过磁性极化和身体性宇宙射线做出的，这在诱变中具有很大的作用。结果表明，宇宙射线可以在诱导简单的手性单体中诱导结构变化的速度施加一个小但持久的手性偏见，这是生物聚合物的基础。螺旋生物聚合物特别是可能是RNA和DNA的祖细胞的螺旋生物聚合物应该会出现更大的影响。结果表明，相互作用既可以是静电，也可以是涉及分子电场的静电，也可以是涉及磁场的电磁。有人认为，这种偏见会导致在进化时间范围内出现一种单一的手性生命形式。如果这种机制占主导地位，那么生活系统的惯用性应该是普遍的。提出了实验来评估此过程的功效。
Biological molecules chose one of two structurally, chiral systems which are related by reflection in a mirror. It is proposed that this choice was made, causally, by magnetically polarized and physically chiral cosmic-rays, which are known to have a large role in mutagenesis. It is shown that the cosmic rays can impose a small, but persistent, chiral bias in the rate at which they induce structural changes in simple, chiral monomers that are the building blocks of biopolymers. A much larger effect should be present with helical biopolymers, in particular, those that may have been the progenitors of RNA and DNA. It is shown that the interaction can be both electrostatic, just involving the molecular electric field, and electromagnetic, also involving a magnetic field. It is argued that this bias can lead to the emergence of a single, chiral life form over an evolutionary timescale. If this mechanism dominates, then the handedness of living systems should be universal. Experiments are proposed to assess the efficacy of this process.
