Chemical Physics Letters, 436, 175–178. Rossi, F. et

al., 2008. Spatio-Temporal Perturbation of the Dynamics of the Ferroin Catalyzed Belousov–Zhabotinsky Reaction in Selleck CP673451 a Batch Reactor Caused by Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate Micelles. Journal of Physical Chemistry B, 112, 7244–7250. Vanag, V.K. & Epstein, I.R., 2008. Patterns of Nanodroplets: The Belousov–Zhabotinsky-Aerosol OT-Microemulsion System. In Self-Organized Morphology in Nanostructured Materials. Springer Series in Materials Science. Berlin: K. Al-Shamery and J. Parisi, eds., pagg. 89–113. E-mail: f.​rossi@unipa.​it Metabolism First Theories: An Evaluation Robert Shapiro Department of Chemistry, New York University, New York, N.Y., USA The most significant division between theories suggesting a mechanism for the origin of life may be the one between the “metabolism-first” and “replicator first” points of view. The latter proposal has been favored among the majority of scientists in the field for several decades. It requires, however, the spontaneous assembly by abiotic chemical

processes of a macromolecule that can catalyze its own self-replication. Such an event would be extremely improbable, and the theory implies that life may be exceedingly rare in this universe (Shapiro, 2000). The competing position, metabolism first, has lesser requirements: a mixture of smaller organic molecules such as those found GSK2126458 in carbonaceous meteorites, a solvent suitable for the support of chemical reactions of these molecules, and an interactive energy source to drive the process of self-organization (Morowitz, 1968; Feinberg and Shapiro, 1980). This concept has often been described in terms of an autocatalytic reaction cycle, in which sufficient quantities of carbon dioxide or simple organic molecules are

absorbed Temsirolimus chemical structure in each turn of the cycle to double the amount of material within it. The participating members of the cycle also serve as catalysts for the reactions of the cycle (Kauffman, 1994). Variants of the reductive citric acid cycle have often been cited as possible examples of such a cycle (Wchtershuser, 1990; Morowitz, 1999). Several recent papers have challenged the plausibility of such schemes on a number of grounds (Pross, 2004; Orgel, 2008). They have argued that specific catalysis of cycle reactions by its members is CDK inhibitor implausible; that many competing reactions would draw off material and disrupt the cycle and that no driving force had been specified that would favor the spontaneous self-organization of a disordered system. No experimental demonstration of the operation of such a system has been made. I will argue that the first three objections can be remedied if an external energy source can be coupled specifically to a reaction of the central cycle. Thermodynamic factors would then favor the central cycle and draw organic material from competing reactions into it; no specific catalysis would be required.