Mathematics – Logic
Scientific paper
Dec 2008
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2008agufm.b24c..01b&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2008, abstract #B24C-01
Mathematics
Logic
0412 Biogeochemical Kinetics And Reaction Modeling (0414, 0793, 1615, 4805, 4912), 0414 Biogeochemical Cycles, Processes, And Modeling (0412, 0793, 1615, 4805, 4912), 1055 Organic And Biogenic Geochemistry
Scientific paper
The central paradox surrounding the origin of life is not presented by a scarcity of organic compounds (which are abundant in the cosmos), but rather the ease with which organic compounds become tar when they are exposed to energy. One emerging solution to this problem is the interaction of minerals with organic compounds in ways that no only guides their reactivity, but also stabilizes end products having biological value. One breakthrough in this area is the discovery that ribose, the "R" in "RNA", is formed in a guided process in the presence of boron-containing minerals, and is stabilized by boron once it is formed. This process may have been coupled with molybdenum-guided pathways on early Earth. These observations, confirmed in detail in the laboratory, are guiding those who model planetary formation to consider how these two elements, neither particularly abundant in the Earth's crust, might have been made available to organic molecules evolving early in Earth's history to give chemical systems capable of Darwinian evolution.
Benner D. S.
Benner S. R.
Carrigan M.
Frye F.
Illangkoon H.
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