title: The polar profile of ancient proteins: a computational extrapolation from prebiotics to paleobiochemistry.
abstract: This paper addresses the polar profile of ancient proteins using a comparative study of amino acids found in 25 000 000-year-old shells described in Abelson's work. We simulated the polar profile with a computer platform that represented an evolutionary computational toy model that mimicked the generation of small proteins starting from a pool of monomeric amino acids and that included several dynamic properties, such as self-replication and fragmentation-recombination of the proteins. The simulations were taken up to 15 generations and produced a considerable number of proteins of 25 amino acids in length. The computational model included the amino acids found in the ancient shells, the thermal degradation factor, and the relative abundance of the amino acids observed in the Miller-Urey experimental simulation of the prebiotic amino acid formation. We found that the amino acid polar profiles of the ancient shells and those simulated and extrapolated from the Miller-Urey abundances are coincident.
authors.affiliation: Department of Mathematics, Faculty of Sciences, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, México City, 04510 México.
authors.forename: Carlos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Polanco
authors.affiliation: Centro de Investigaciones Químicas, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos, Cuernavaca, Morelos, 62209 México.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Buhse
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Médicas y Nutrición "Salvador Zubirán", México City, 14000 México.
authors.forename: Gloria
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Vizcaíno
authors.affiliation: Health Sciences Research Center, Faculty of Health Sciences, Universidad Anáhuac, Huixquilucan Edo. de México, 52786 México.
authors.forename: Jacobo Levy
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Picciotto
mesh_terms: D000596:Amino Acids / Q000737:chemistry*; D060105:Animal Shells / Q000737:chemistry; D000818:Animals; D003198:Computer Simulation; D019418:Evolution, Chemical; D008956:Models, Chemical; D000069497:Origin of Life; D010163:Paleontology / Q000379:methods; D056692:Prebiotics; D011506:Proteins / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D000596:Amino Acids; D056692:Prebiotics; D011506:Proteins
keywords: abiogenesis; origins of life; prebiotic protein formation