Chemical roots of biological evolution: the origins of life as a process of development of autonomous functional systems

Abstract

In recent years, an extension of the Darwinian framework is being considered for the study of prebiotic chemical evolution, shifting the attention from homogeneous populations of naked molecular species to populations of heterogeneous, compartmentalized and functionally integrated assemblies of molecules. Several implications of this shift of perspective are analysed in this critical review, both in terms of the individual units, which require an adequate characterization as self-maintaining systems with an internal organization, and also in relation to their collective and long-term evolutionary dynamics, based on competition, collaboration and selection processes among those complex individuals. On these lines, a concrete proposal for the set of molecular control mechanisms that must be coupled to bring about autonomous functional systems, at the interface between chemistry and biology, is provided.

Programmed Recognition between Complementary Dinucleolipids To Control the Self‐Assembly of Lipidic Amphiphiles

“…This approach is normally based on self‐organization and/or chemistries that are dynamic in nature, and by looking closely at chiral effects of those components to reach specific morphologies . The long‐term goal of this strategy is to create chemical networks and assemblies with emergent properties that are characteristic of life …”

“…[15][16][17] The long-term goalo ft his strategy is to create chemical networks and assemblies with emergentproperties that are characteristicofl ife. [18] An interesting example of the aforementioned approach lies in the combination of nucleic acids (or their constituents:n ucleotides, nucleosides and nucleobases) with lipids in the same hybridm olecule, leadingt ot he so-called nucleolipids. [19,20] Whereas the main biological role of nucleic acidsi st os tore and process genetic information, lipids are key structurale lementso fm embranes,a sb oundaries that allow the compartmentalizationo fc ellular processes.…”

Chemical Basis of Biological Homochirality during the Abiotic Evolution Stages on Earth

“…SMSB can be interpreted within the framework of entropy production and dissipative processes [10,11]. This means that BH belongs to the same physico-chemical scenarios as those of open chemical networks proposed for the description of minimal self-reproducing proto-cells, primordial biochemical cycles, and the chemical thermodynamics of the reaction networks that maintain the phenomenon of life [12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26]. The paradox is that all of these reports eschew the enantioselective character of biological replicators, organocatalysis and autocatalytic reaction networks.…”

Aneurysmal Subarachnoid Hemorrhage and Resolution of Inflammation

“…The vital roles of EPA and DHA in the human body emphasize the evolutionary importance of maintaining efficient functional couplings between chemical and biological systems as well as between the vasculature and the brain [87]. Resolution of inflammation and endogenous neuroprotective signaling are interrelated processes that largely depend on EPA and DHA derivatives.…”