Homochirality and long-range transfer in biological systems.
It has been shown that the chiral purity of biomacromolecules has important biological significance not only from the standpoint of lock-and-key stereocomplementarity, but also as a basis for long-range communication in biosystems. An explicit demonstration is given for the case of proton transfer along the hydrogen-bonded chain that is formed by amino acids containing OH groups. It is found that the replacement of the L-amino acid residue by the D-isomer in a peptide chain suppresses proton transport through the hydrogen bond network.
Fisun
O I
OI
Institute of Physics and Technology, Moscow, Russia.
Savin
A V
AV
D000596:Amino Acids / Q000737:chemistry*; D006801:Humans; D017136:Ion Transport; D008954:Models, Biological; D011522:Protons
D000596:Amino Acids; D011522:Protons