化学進化に果たした硫化鉱物の役割(<特集>アストロバイオロジー)
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概要
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The history of the theory and experimental evidence that sulfide minerals are linked to abiotic organic chemistry is reviewed. Modern biocatalysts that promote the formation of organic molecules from small components include protein enzymes that contain transition metal sulfide clusters at their active sites. The important roles of metal sulfide clusters in microbial biosynthesis inspired two distinct hypotheses by Wachtershauser, and Russell. Both of two hypotheses were proposed that sulfide minerals might play significant roles promoting the chemical evolution. During the 1990s and into the twenty-first century, experiments have revealed that sulfide minerals have the capacity to both catalyze and, in some cases, participate in organosynthetic reactions that are similar to modern biosynthetic pathways. Therefore, sulfide minerals could provide the early Earth with valuable organic molecules.