>And when expressed correctly, it is a reasonable prebiotic setting: salty
>seas subject to seasonal cycles of drought and storm, bounded by active
>volcanic plains frequently covered by fresh lava, containing concentrations
>of amino acids that occasionally get cooked on fresh volcanic rock when
>drought causes the shoreline to recede, only later to be redissolved when
>storms cause the shoreline to resurge. Heck, this sounds like conditions we
>could have today.
Kevin, your misplaced zeal amazes and impresses me. Where on the primitive
earth are you going to find a mixture of amino acids that is 2/3 aspartic
and glutamic and 1/3 of the other 18 amino acids and has no non-amino acid
organic compounds in it...including sugars??? It is wonderful that you have
faith to think that is possible. But then maybe you have been in the lab
so long you think all of those jars of chemicals that surround you that you
would need in order to make this reaction happen, are what the world is
like out there! Even a pinch of sugar will tar the reaction. Try
performing the reaction with only half of the mix as Glu+asp...try it with
the ratio of the amino acids that results from "prebiotic" experiments.
Try performing the reaction with a pinch of salt in the mixture. The
experiments are so ridiculously easy to do, you should be able to report on
the results by tomorrow. I will be listening.
Art
http://biology.swau.edu