title: Energy propagation through a protometabolism leading to the local emergence of singular stationary concentration profiles.
abstract: Living systems rely on chains of energy transfer from an energy source to maintain their metabolism. This task requires functionally identified components and organizations. However, propagation of a sustained energy flux through a cascade of reaction cycles has never been reproduced at a steady state in a simple chemical system. By using energy patterning and a diffusing hub reactant, we achieved the transfer of energy through an abiotic protometabolism. Patterned illumination was applied to a liquid solution of a reversible photoacid. It resulted in the local onset of a proton pump, which subsequently drove an extended reaction-diffusion cycle that involved pH-sensitive reactants. Thus, light has been used for locally setting out of chemical equilibrium a reaction involving "blind" reactants. The spontaneous onset of an energy-transfer chain notably drives the local generation of singular dissipative chemical structures; continuous matter fluxes are dynamically maintained at boundaries between spatially and chemically segregated zones, in the absence of any membrane or predetermined material structure.
authors.affiliation: École Normale Supérieure, Département de Chimie, UMR CNRS-ENS-UPMC 8640 PASTEUR, 24, rue Lhomond, 75231 Paris Cedex 05, France.
authors.forename: Matthieu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Emond
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Le Saux
authors.forename: Jean-Francois
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Allemand
authors.forename: Philippe
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Pelupessy
authors.forename: Raphaël
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Plasson
authors.forename: Ludovic
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Jullien
mesh_terms: D002722:Chlorobenzenes / Q000737:chemistry; D004058:Diffusion; D004735:Energy Transfer; D007700:Kinetics; D008956:Models, Chemical; D011522:Protons; D013237:Stereoisomerism; D014466:Ultraviolet Rays
chemical_list: D002722:Chlorobenzenes; D011522:Protons; C036720:trichlorobenzene