Sugars as the Optimal Biosynthetic Carbon Substrate of Aqueous Life Throughout the Universe

Content Provider	Semantic Scholar
Author	Weber, Arthur L.
Copyright Year	2004
Abstract	Our previous analysis of the energetics ofmetabolism showed that both the biosynthesis of aminoacids and lipids from sugars, and the fermentation oforganic substrates, were energetically driven byelectron transfer reactions resulting in carbon redoxdisproportionation (Weber, 1997). Redoxdisproportionation – the spontaneous (energeticallyfavorable) direction of carbon group transformation inbiosynthesis – is brought about and driven by theenergetically downhill transfer of electron pairs frommore oxidized carbon groups (with lower half-cellreduction potentials) to more reduced carbon groups(with higher half-cell reduction potentials). In thisreport, we compare the redox and kinetic properties ofcarbon groups in order to evaluate the relativebiosynthetic capability of organic substrates, and toidentify the optimal biosubstrate. This analysisrevealed that sugars (monocarbonyl alditols) are theoptimal biosynthetic substrate because they containthe maximum number of biosynthetically useful highenergy electrons/carbon atom while still containing asingle carbonyl group needed to kinetically facilitatetheir conversion to useful biosynthetic intermediates. This conclusion applies to aqueous life throughout theUniverse because it is based on invariant aqueouscarbon chemistry – primarily, the universal reductionpotentials of carbon groups.
Starting Page	33
Ending Page	43
Page Count	11
File Format	PDF HTM / HTML
DOI	10.1023/A:1006627406047
Alternate Webpage(s)	https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/20090013855.pdf
PubMed reference number	10836263
Alternate Webpage(s)	https://doi.org/10.1023/A%3A1006627406047
Journal	Medline
Volume Number	30
Journal	Origins of life and evolution of the biosphere
Language	English
Access Restriction	Open
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article