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

Content Provider	Springer Nature Link
Author	Weber, Arthur L.
Copyright Year	2000
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
ISSN	01696149
Journal	Origins of Life and Evolution of Biospheres
Volume Number	30
Issue Number	1
e-ISSN	15730875
Language	English
Publisher	Kluwer Academic Publishers
Publisher Date	2000-01-01
Publisher Place	Dordrecht
Access Restriction	Subscribed
Subject Keyword	Organic Chemistry Geochemistry Biochemistry
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Medicine Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics Space and Planetary Science

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1	Ministry of Education (GoI), Department of Higher Education	Sanctioning Authority	https://www.education.gov.in/ict-initiatives
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3	National Digital Library of India Office, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	The administrative and infrastructural headquarters of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in
4	Project PI / Joint PI	Principal Investigator and Joint Principal Investigators of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in Prof. Saswat Chakrabarti will be added soon
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