Was methionine the molecular trigger of life on early earth?

GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT

Abstract

Since methionine is capable of self-activation, the dipeptides formed by the reaction of its activated form with another amino acid were over-represented in the primitive ocean. This hypothesis gives a key role to methionine in the development of life on the Earth. It could explain why a methionine residue begins the synthesis of all proteins, while it is usually not necessary for its catalytic activity, and why the start codon is relatively variable in prokaryotes.

Keywords:

• Origins of life
• prebiotic chemistry
• oligopeptides
• methionine
• self-activation

Funding

We thank “Labex Arcane” (ANR-11-LABX-0003-01) for the funding of K. V. Raghavendra Rao's grant.