Prebiotic Peptides: Molecular Hubs in the Origin of LifeClick to copy article linkArticle link copied!
- Moran Frenkel-PinterMoran Frenkel-PinterNSF/NASA Center for Chemical Evolution, https://centerforchemicalevolution.com/School of Chemistry & Biochemistry, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332, United StatesMore by Moran Frenkel-Pinter
- Mousumi SamantaMousumi SamantaDepartment of Chemistry, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva 84105, IsraelMore by Mousumi Samanta
- Gonen Ashkenasy*Gonen Ashkenasy*Email: [email protected] (G.A.).Department of Chemistry, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva 84105, IsraelMore by Gonen Ashkenasy
- Luke J. Leman*Luke J. Leman*Email: [email protected] (L.J.L.).NSF/NASA Center for Chemical Evolution, https://centerforchemicalevolution.com/Department of Chemistry, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, California 92037, United StatesMore by Luke J. Leman
Abstract

The fundamental roles that peptides and proteins play in today’s biology makes it almost indisputable that peptides were key players in the origin of life. Insofar as it is appropriate to extrapolate back from extant biology to the prebiotic world, one must acknowledge the critical importance that interconnected molecular networks, likely with peptides as key components, would have played in life’s origin. In this review, we summarize chemical processes involving peptides that could have contributed to early chemical evolution, with an emphasis on molecular interactions between peptides and other classes of organic molecules. We first summarize mechanisms by which amino acids and similar building blocks could have been produced and elaborated into proto-peptides. Next, non-covalent interactions of peptides with other peptides as well as with nucleic acids, lipids, carbohydrates, metal ions, and aromatic molecules are discussed in relation to the possible roles of such interactions in chemical evolution of structure and function. Finally, we describe research involving structural alternatives to peptides and covalent adducts between amino acids/peptides and other classes of molecules. We propose that ample future breakthroughs in origin-of-life chemistry will stem from investigations of interconnected chemical systems in which synergistic interactions between different classes of molecules emerge.
Cited By
Smart citations by scite.ai include citation statements extracted from the full text of the citing article. The number of the statements may be higher than the number of citations provided by ACS Publications if one paper cites another multiple times or lower if scite has not yet processed some of the citing articles.
This article is cited by 249 publications.
- Debanjan Bagchi, Avijit Maity, Khushwant Saini, Huma Tabassum, Priyanka Nath, Sachin Vishwakarma, Anjan Chakraborty. Visual Monitoring of Biomolecular Self-Assembly Dynamics and Imaging of Protein Aggregates by Distinct Emission of a Unique Hydrophobic Carbon Dot. The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters 2025, 16
(14)
, 3501-3508. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpclett.5c00129
- Prasad Ramesh Joshi, Yuan-Pern Lee. Identification of the HO•CHC(O)NH2 Radical Intermediate in the Reaction of H + Glycolamide in Solid Para-Hydrogen and Its Implication to the Interstellar Formation of Higher-Order Amides and Polypeptides. ACS Earth and Space Chemistry 2025, 9
(3)
, 769-781. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsearthspacechem.4c00409
- Chiranjit Mahato, Sumit Pal, Himangshu Kuiry, Dibyendu Das. Pathway-Dependent Catalytic Activity of Short-Peptide-Based Metallozyme: From Promiscuous Activity to Cascade Reaction. Nano Letters 2025, 25
(6)
, 2538-2546. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.nanolett.4c06230
- Davide Carboni, Marta Cadeddu, Luigi Stagi, Roberto Anedda, Luigi Menduti, Luisa De Cola, Luca Malfatti, Plinio Innocenzi. Structural Insights into Low-Temperature Copolymerization of Thermodegradable Amino Acids Mediated by Pyroglutamic Acid. Macromolecules 2024, 57
(21)
, 10418-10431. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.macromol.4c00614
- Rotem Edri, Loren Dean Williams, Moran Frenkel-Pinter. From Catalysis of Evolution to Evolution of Catalysis. Accounts of Chemical Research 2024, 57
(21)
, 3081-3092. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.accounts.4c00196
- Jacob Koch, Yan Hess, Christine R. Bak, Evamaria I. Petersen, Peter Fojan. Design of a Novel Peptide with Esterolytic Activity toward PET by Mimicking the Catalytic Motif of Serine Hydrolases. The Journal of Physical Chemistry B 2024, 128
(42)
, 10363-10372. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpcb.4c03845
- Joris Zimmermann, Emilie Werner, Shunjiro Sodei, Joseph Moran. Pinpointing Conditions for a Metabolic Origin of Life: Underlying Mechanisms and the Role of Coenzymes. Accounts of Chemical Research 2024, 57
(20)
, 3032-3043. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.accounts.4c00423
- Siyu Song, Tsvetomir Ivanov, Dandan Yuan, Jianqiang Wang, Lucas Caire da Silva, Jing Xie, Shoupeng Cao. Peptide-Based Biomimetic Condensates via Liquid–Liquid Phase Separation as Biomedical Delivery Vehicles. Biomacromolecules 2024, 25
(9)
, 5468-5488. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.biomac.4c00814
- Yahui Yin, Ziqi Tang, Weiping Liu, Xia Li, Chenglong Sun, Weilian Zhang, Xianzhen Xu. Study on Vapor–Liquid Equilibrium of l-Lysine, l-Arginine, and l-Threonine Aqueous Solutions. Journal of Chemical & Engineering Data 2024, 69
(8)
, 2783-2792. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jced.4c00219
- Klára Hlouchová. Peptides En Route from Prebiotic to Biotic Catalysis. Accounts of Chemical Research 2024, 57
(15)
, 2027-2037. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.accounts.4c00137
- Arunava Poddar, Nirmell Satthiyasilan, Po-Hsiang Wang, Chen Chen, Ruiqin Yi, Kuhan Chandru, Tony Z. Jia. Reactions Driven by Primitive Nonbiological Polyesters. Accounts of Chemical Research 2024, 57
(15)
, 2048-2057. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.accounts.4c00167
- Iris B. A. Smokers, Brent S. Visser, Annemiek D. Slootbeek, Wilhelm T. S. Huck, Evan Spruijt. How Droplets Can Accelerate Reactions─Coacervate Protocells as Catalytic Microcompartments. Accounts of Chemical Research 2024, 57
(14)
, 1885-1895. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.accounts.4c00114
- Baoli Zhang, Yuanxi Liu, Shichao Xu, Zhen-Gang Wang. Flavin-Dependent NADH Dehydrogenase-Mimetic Materials Facilitating Bioinspired Electron Transfer Chain. ACS Materials Letters 2024, 6
(6)
, 2392-2399. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsmaterialslett.4c00358
- Keon Rezaeerod, Hanna Heinzmann, Alexis V. Torrence, Jui Patel, Jay G. Forsythe. Qualitative Monitoring of Proto-Peptide Condensation by Differential FTIR Spectroscopy. ACS Earth and Space Chemistry 2024, 8
(5)
, 937-944. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsearthspacechem.3c00257
- Zachary R. Cohen, Zoe R. Todd, Lutz Maibaum, David C. Catling, Roy A. Black. Stabilization of Prebiotic Vesicles by Peptides Depends on Sequence and Chirality: A Mechanism for Selection of Protocell-Associated Peptides. Langmuir 2024, 40
(17)
, 8971-8980. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.langmuir.4c00150
- Pedro Mustieles-del-Ser, David Ruano-Gallego, Víctor Parro. Immunoanalytical Detection of Conserved Peptides: Refining the Universe of Biomarker Targets in Planetary Exploration. Analytical Chemistry 2024, 96
(12)
, 4764-4773. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.analchem.3c04165
- Oliver R. Maguire, Iris B. A. Smokers, Bob G. Oosterom, Alla Zheliezniak, Wilhelm T. S. Huck. A Prebiotic Precursor to Life’s Phosphate Transfer System with an ATP Analog and Histidyl Peptide Organocatalysts. Journal of the American Chemical Society 2024, 146
(11)
, 7839-7849. https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.4c01156
- Kun Dai, Mahesh D. Pol, Lenard Saile, Arti Sharma, Bin Liu, Ralf Thomann, Johanna L. Trefs, Danye Qiu, Sandra Moser, Stefan Wiesler, Bizan N. Balzer, Thorsten Hugel, Henning J. Jessen, Charalampos G. Pappas. Spontaneous and Selective Peptide Elongation in Water Driven by Aminoacyl Phosphate Esters and Phase Changes. Journal of the American Chemical Society 2023, 145
(48)
, 26086-26094. https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.3c07918
- Ryou Kubota, Taro Hiroi, Yuriki Ikuta, Yuchong Liu, Itaru Hamachi. Visualizing Formation and Dynamics of a Three-Dimensional Sponge-like Network of a Coacervate in Real Time. Journal of the American Chemical Society 2023, 145
(33)
, 18316-18328. https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.3c03793
- Jan Pawlas, Ji-Hyung Choi, Christoph von Bargen, Sheila Maibom-Thomsen, Jon H. Rasmussen, Olivier Ludemann-Hombourger. Elevating 1-tert-Butyl-3-ethylcarbodiimide (TBEC) as a Reagent for Sustainable Peptide Synthesis: Quality Assessment and Minimizing Racemization, Precipitation, and Radical-Induced Side Reactions by TBEC/Oxyma Couplings in an Environmentally Sensible Solvent. Organic Process Research & Development 2023, 27
(7)
, 1348-1364. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.oprd.3c00120
- Chandranath Ghosh, Sneha Menon, Subhajit Bal, Surashree Goswami, Jagannath Mondal, Dibyendu Das. Emergence of Catalytic Triad by Short Peptide Based Nanofibrillar Assemblies. Nano Letters 2023, 23
(12)
, 5828-5835. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.nanolett.3c01852
- Salma Kassem, Scott A. McPhee, Naxhije Berisha, Rein V. Ulijn. Emergence of Cooperative Glucose-Binding Networks in Adaptive Peptide Systems. Journal of the American Chemical Society 2023, 145
(17)
, 9800-9807. https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.3c01620
- Pratik Vyas, Sergey Malitsky, Maxim Itkin, Dan S. Tawfik. On the Origins of Enzymes: Phosphate-Binding Polypeptides Mediate Phosphoryl Transfer to Synthesize Adenosine Triphosphate. Journal of the American Chemical Society 2023, 145
(15)
, 8344-8354. https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.2c08636
- Yuxi Fang, Xi Liu, Jing Ai, Gui Zhao, Liwei Chen, Shunai Che, Lu Han. Enantiospecific Affinities of Chiral Cu Films for Both d-Ribose and l-Amino Acids. Chemistry of Materials 2023, 35
(6)
, 2402-2407. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.chemmater.2c03534
- Yameng Hou, Xingshi Xu, Xianglei Kong. K+-Selectivity Due to Coordination with a D4d-Symmetric Homochiral Proline Octamer Verified by Mass Spectrometry and Infrared Photodissociation Spectroscopy. The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters 2023, 14
(10)
, 2660-2664. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpclett.2c03838
- Mikhail Makarov, Alma C. Sanchez Rocha, Robin Krystufek, Ivan Cherepashuk, Volha Dzmitruk, Tatsiana Charnavets, Anneliese M. Faustino, Michal Lebl, Kosuke Fujishima, Stephen D. Fried, Klara Hlouchova. Early Selection of the Amino Acid Alphabet Was Adaptively Shaped by Biophysical Constraints of Foldability. Journal of the American Chemical Society 2023, 145
(9)
, 5320-5329. https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.2c12987
- Benjamin Thoma, Matthew W. Powner. Selective Synthesis of Lysine Peptides and the Prebiotically Plausible Synthesis of Catalytically Active Diaminopropionic Acid Peptide Nitriles in Water. Journal of the American Chemical Society 2023, 145
(5)
, 3121-3130. https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.2c12497
- Ola El Samrout, Marco Fabbiani, Gloria Berlier, Jean-François Lambert, Gianmario Martra. Emergence of Order in Origin-of-Life Scenarios on Mineral Surfaces: Polyglycine Chains on Silica. Langmuir 2022, 38
(50)
, 15516-15525. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.langmuir.2c02106
- Ryou Kubota, Shogo Torigoe, Itaru Hamachi. Temporal Stimulus Patterns Drive Differentiation of a Synthetic Dipeptide-Based Coacervate. Journal of the American Chemical Society 2022, 144
(33)
, 15155-15164. https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.2c05101
- Jyoti Singh, Daniel Whitaker, Benjamin Thoma, Saidul Islam, Callum S. Foden, Abil E. Aliev, Tom D. Sheppard, Matthew W. Powner. Prebiotic Catalytic Peptide Ligation Yields Proteinogenic Peptides by Intramolecular Amide Catalyzed Hydrolysis Facilitating Regioselective Lysine Ligation in Neutral Water. Journal of the American Chemical Society 2022, 144
(23)
, 10151-10155. https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.2c03486
- Leonardo F. Serafim, Vindi M. Jayasinghe-Arachchige, Lukun Wang, Rajeev Prabhakar. Promiscuous Catalytic Activity of a Binuclear Metallohydrolase: Peptide and Phosphoester Hydrolyses. Journal of Chemical Information and Modeling 2022, 62
(10)
, 2466-2480. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jcim.2c00214
- Zixin Zhou, Wenting He, Hao Chao, Han Wang, Ping Su, Jiayi Song, Yi Yang. Insertion of Hemin into Metal–Organic Frameworks: Mimicking Natural Peroxidase Microenvironment for the Rapid Ultrasensitive Detection of Uranium. Analytical Chemistry 2022, 94
(18)
, 6833-6841. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.analchem.2c00661
- Anthony C. Forster. Revisiting the Extinction of the RNA World. Biochemistry 2022, 61
(9)
, 749-751. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.biochem.2c00121
- Joydev Hatai, Yigit Altay, Ankush Sood, Armin Kiani, Marcel J. Eleveld, Leila Motiei, David Margulies, Sijbren Otto. An Optical Probe for Real-Time Monitoring of Self-Replicator Emergence and Distinguishing between Replicators. Journal of the American Chemical Society 2022, 144
(7)
, 3074-3082. https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.1c11594
- İlhan Sevim. Design of Subreplicating Systems from an Existing Self-Replicating Diels–Alder Reaction System by Isosteric Replacement. The Journal of Organic Chemistry 2021, 86
(21)
, 14964-14973. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.joc.1c01695
- Jinqiao Dong, Yan Liu, Yong Cui. Artificial Metal–Peptide Assemblies: Bioinspired Assembly of Peptides and Metals through Space and across Length Scales. Journal of the American Chemical Society 2021, 143
(42)
, 17316-17336. https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.1c08487
- Mingzhu Sheng, Filippo Silvestrini, Malgorzata Biczysko, Cristina Puzzarini. Structural and Vibrational Properties of Amino Acids from Composite Schemes and Double-Hybrid DFT: Hydrogen Bonding in Serine as a Test Case. The Journal of Physical Chemistry A 2021, 125
(41)
, 9099-9114. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpca.1c06993
- Benjamin T. Ball, Sara Vanovac, Tuguldur T. Odbadrakh, George C. Shields. Monomers of Glycine and Serine Have a Limited Ability to Hydrate in the Atmosphere. The Journal of Physical Chemistry A 2021, 125
(38)
, 8454-8467. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpca.1c05466
- Darío Barreiro-Lage, Paola Bolognesi, Jacopo Chiarinelli, Robert Richter, Henning Zettergren, Mark H. Stockett, Laura Carlini, Sergio Diaz-Tendero, Lorenzo Avaldi. “Smart Decomposition” of Cyclic Alanine-Alanine Dipeptide by VUV Radiation: A Seed for the Synthesis of Biologically Relevant Species. The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters 2021, 12
(30)
, 7379-7386. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpclett.1c01788
- Mengjun Xue, Roy A. Black, Zachary R. Cohen, Adrienne Roehrich, Gary P. Drobny, Sarah L. Keller. Binding of Dipeptides to Fatty Acid Membranes Explains Their Colocalization in Protocells but Does Not Select for Them Relative to Unjoined Amino Acids. The Journal of Physical Chemistry B 2021, 125
(29)
, 7933-7939. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpcb.1c01485
- Wenxin Wang, Lina Qiao, Jing He, Yun Ju, Kai Yu, Guangfeng Kan, Changlu Guo, Hong Zhang, Jie Jiang. Water Microdroplets Allow Spontaneously Abiotic Production of Peptides. The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters 2021, 12
(24)
, 5774-5780. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpclett.1c01083
- Alexandra M. Deal, Rebecca J. Rapf, Veronica Vaida. Water–Air Interfaces as Environments to Address the Water Paradox in Prebiotic Chemistry: A Physical Chemistry Perspective. The Journal of Physical Chemistry A 2021, 125
(23)
, 4929-4942. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpca.1c02864
- Erika Flores, Eduardo Martinez, Laura E. Rodriguez, Jessica M. Weber, Arezoo Khodayari, David G. VanderVelde, Laura M. Barge. Effects of Amino Acids on Phosphate Adsorption Onto Iron (Oxy)hydroxide Minerals under Early Earth Conditions. ACS Earth and Space Chemistry 2021, 5
(5)
, 1048-1057. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsearthspacechem.1c00006
- V. Haridas. Tailoring of Peptide Vesicles: A Bottom-Up Chemical Approach. Accounts of Chemical Research 2021, 54
(8)
, 1934-1949. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.accounts.0c00690
- Thomas Buhse, José-Manuel Cruz, María E. Noble-Terán, David Hochberg, Josep M. Ribó, Joaquim Crusats, Jean-Claude Micheau. Spontaneous Deracemizations. Chemical Reviews 2021, 121
(4)
, 2147-2229. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.chemrev.0c00819
- Prasad Ramesh Joshi, Kylie Chia-Yee How, Yuan-Pern Lee. Hydrogen Abstraction of Acetic Acid by Hydrogen Atom to Form Carboxymethyl Radical •CH2C(O)OH in Solid para-Hydrogen and Its Implication in Astrochemistry. ACS Earth and Space Chemistry 2021, 5
(1)
, 106-117. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsearthspacechem.0c00316
- Jinqiao Dong, Yan Liu, Yong Cui. Supramolecular Chirality in Metal–Organic Complexes. Accounts of Chemical Research 2021, 54
(1)
, 194-206. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.accounts.0c00604
- Tommaso P. Fraccia, Tony Z. Jia. Liquid Crystal Coacervates Composed of Short Double-Stranded DNA and Cationic Peptides. ACS Nano 2020, 14
(11)
, 15071-15082. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsnano.0c05083
- Jabbarrius N. Ervin, Marcos Bouza, Facundo M. Fernández, Jay G. Forsythe. Proline Behavior in Model Prebiotic Peptides Formed by Wet–Dry Cycling. ACS Earth and Space Chemistry 2020, 4
(8)
, 1349-1359. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsearthspacechem.0c00119
- Kamila B. Muchowska, Sreejith J. Varma, Joseph Moran. Nonenzymatic Metabolic Reactions and Life’s Origins. Chemical Reviews 2020, 120
(15)
, 7708-7744. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.chemrev.0c00191
- Craig C. Robertson, Tamara Kosikova, Douglas Philp. Encoding Multiple Reactivity Modes within a Single Synthetic Replicator. Journal of the American Chemical Society 2020, 142
(25)
, 11139-11152. https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.0c03527
- Shoupeng Cao, Peng Zhou, Guizhi Shen, Tsvetomir Ivanov, Xuehai Yan, Katharina Landfester, Lucas Caire da Silva. Binary peptide coacervates as an active model for biomolecular condensates. Nature Communications 2025, 16
(1)
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-57772-z
- Ryou Kubota. A minimalist design approach to simple coacervates from low-molecular-weight components. Polymer Journal 2025, 239 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41428-025-01037-5
- Syed Pavel Afrose, Soumili Roy, Pratip Bhattacharyya, Ajeet Kumar Singh, Lisa Roy, Dibyendu Das. Minimal catalytic dissipative assemblies
via
cooperation of an amino acid, a nucleobase precursor and a cofactor. Chemical Science 2025, 16
(18)
, 7838-7846. https://doi.org/10.1039/D5SC00827A
- Wendi Zhang, Yao Wang, Yanhang Ma, Yingying Duan, Wanning Zhang, Shunai Che, Yuxi Fang. Enantioselective Abiotic Synthesis of Ribose on Chiral Mesostructured Hydroxyapatite. Angewandte Chemie 2025, 23 https://doi.org/10.1002/ange.202425581
- Wendi Zhang, Yao Wang, Yanhang Ma, Yingying Duan, Wanning Zhang, Shunai Che, Yuxi Fang. Enantioselective Abiotic Synthesis of Ribose on Chiral Mesostructured Hydroxyapatite. Angewandte Chemie International Edition 2025, 23 https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.202425581
- Tom H.R. Kuster, Tobias Schnitzer. Peptide catalysis: Trends and opportunities. Chem Catalysis 2025, 5
(5)
, 101339. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.checat.2025.101339
- Søren Toxvaerd. Origin of homochirality in peptides: The first milestone at the origin of life. BioSystems 2025, 11 , 105479. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biosystems.2025.105479
- Omer Agazani, Daniel Boas, Vinay Shankar Tiwari, Or Cohen, Deborah E. Shalev, Meital Reches. Simple Hydroxybenzene Molecules as Thermally Stable Catalysts. ChemSystemsChem 2025, 59 https://doi.org/10.1002/syst.202500006
- Nicholas Drachman, Jacob Vietorisz, Andrew J. Winchester, Robert Vest, Gregory A. Cooksey, Sujitra Pookpanratana, Derek Stein. Photolysis of the peptide bond at 193 and 222 nm. The Journal of Chemical Physics 2025, 162
(16)
https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0257551
- Jean‐Luc Décout, Marie‐Christine Maurel. Purine Chemistry in the Early RNA World at the Origins of Life: From RNA and Nucleobases Lesions to Current Key Metabolic Routes. ChemBioChem 2025, 120 https://doi.org/10.1002/cbic.202500035
- Yishi Ezerzer, Moran Frenkel-Pinter, Rachel Kolodny, Nir Ben-Tal. A building blocks perspective on protein emergence and evolution. Current Opinion in Structural Biology 2025, 91 , 102996. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbi.2025.102996
- Hebing Pei, Zengdong Zhang, Meixuan Ouyang, Hao Liang, Jian Liu, Shijing Li, Hui Zhang, Yongzhang Qi, Lan Wei, Chunmei Liu, Lijun Shi, Ruibin Guo, Nijuan Liu, Zunli Mo. Chiral carbonized polymer dots:A comprehensive review. Sustainable Materials and Technologies 2025, 43 , e01271. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.susmat.2025.e01271
- Kavita Matange, Vahab Rajaei, Pau Capera-Aragones, John T. Costner, Adelaide Robertson, Jennifer Seoyoung Kim, Anton S. Petrov, Jessica C. Bowman, Loren Dean Williams, Moran Frenkel-Pinter. Evolution of complex chemical mixtures reveals combinatorial compression and population synchronicity. Nature Chemistry 2025, 17
(4)
, 590-597. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41557-025-01734-x
- Deming Xia, Fanqi Zeng, Wanting Chen, Hui Zhao, Hong-bin Xie, Jingwen Chen, Joseph S. Francisco. Accelerated peptide bond formation at air–water interfaces. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 2025, 122
(12)
https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2501323122
- Yue Fu, Lian Zhang, Xuehai Yan, Kai Liu. Supramolecular Systems Chemistry Based on the Interplay Between Peptides and Porphyrins. ChemSystemsChem 2025, 7
(2)
https://doi.org/10.1002/syst.202400068
- Mengyue Zhou, Juliana Coelho Rodrigues Lima, Hefei Zhao, Jingnan Zhang, Changmou Xu, Célio Dias Santos-Júnior, Haizhou Wu. Harnessing AI for enhanced screening of antimicrobial bioactive compounds in food safety and preservation. Trends in Food Science & Technology 2025, 157 , 104887. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tifs.2025.104887
- Huilin Yuan, Mingxia Jiang, Huapan Fang, Huayu Tian. Recent advances in poly(amino acids), polypeptides, and their derivatives in drug delivery. Nanoscale 2025, 17
(7)
, 3549-3584. https://doi.org/10.1039/D4NR04481A
- Joanne Lê-Chesnais, Marie Steffenhagen, Christophe Méthivier, Dominique Costa, Daniela Rodriguez, Jean-François Lambert, Emmanuel Maisonhaute, Jessem Landoulsi. Binding mechanism of oligopeptides on solid surface: assessing the significance of single-molecule approach. Nanoscale 2025, 17
(6)
, 3460-3477. https://doi.org/10.1039/D4NR04474F
- Léo Lavy, Denis Comte, Florent Calvo, Bernadette Farizon, Michel Farizon, Tilmann D. Märk. On peptide bond formation from protonated glycine dimers in the gas phase: computational insight into the role of protonation. Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics 2025, 27
(5)
, 2363-2370. https://doi.org/10.1039/D4CP04437A
- Pampapathi Shekharagouda, G. P. Mamatha, G. Nagaraju, Chethan Krishnamurthy, Vinodkumar P. Sajjan, Bandar Ali Al-Asbahi, Naif Mohammed Al-Hada, Babu Giriya Gowda, Lohit Naik. Photophysical and antitubercular studies on newly synthesised structurally architectured sulphonamide. Molecular Physics 2025, 123
(2)
https://doi.org/10.1080/00268976.2024.2356189
- Steffen N. Lindner, Markus Ralser. The ability of pentose pathways to form all essential metabolites provides clues to the origins of metabolism. PLOS Biology 2025, 23
(1)
, e3002996. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3002996
- Cheng-Hsi Wang, Yao-Yu Jhang, Sheng-Sheng Yu. Catalytic peptide/hemin complex from ester–amide exchange reaction mediated by deep eutectic solvents. RSC Advances 2025, 15
(1)
, 119-123. https://doi.org/10.1039/D4RA08607D
- Mousumi Samanta, Noy Saad, Dinghao Wu, Niek S. A. Crone, Karina Abramov‐Harpaz, Clil Regev, Rivka Cohen‐Luria, Aimee L. Boyle, Yifat Miller, Alexander Kros, Gonen Ashkenasy. A Photo‐Switchable Peptide Fibril Esterase. Angewandte Chemie International Edition 2025, 64
(1)
https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.202413810
- Mousumi Samanta, Noy Saad, Dinghao Wu, Niek S. A. Crone, Karina Abramov‐Harpaz, Clil Regev, Rivka Cohen‐Luria, Aimee L. Boyle, Yifat Miller, Alexander Kros, Gonen Ashkenasy. A Photo‐Switchable Peptide Fibril Esterase. Angewandte Chemie 2025, 137
(1)
https://doi.org/10.1002/ange.202413810
- Sreerag N. Moorkkannur, Parth Rathee, Jiawen Yang, Lukun Wang, Rajeev Prabhakar. Insights into the Development of Artificial Metalloenzymes. 2025https://doi.org/10.1007/3418_2025_123
- Burckhard Seelig, Irene A. Chen. Intellectual frameworks to understand complex biochemical systems at the origin of life. Nature Chemistry 2025, 17
(1)
, 11-19. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41557-024-01698-4
- Subhendu Samanta, Raj Kumar Roy. Light-induced twisting, untwisting, and retwisting of aromatic polyamides: an interplay between the induced chirality and the co-facial π-stacking interactions. Chemical Science 2025, 64 https://doi.org/10.1039/D4SC08795J
- Alan Herbert. Flipons and the origin of the genetic code. Biology Letters 2025, 21
(1)
https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2024.0635
- Dean R. Jarois, Lars E. Schimmelpfennig, Samuel H. Gellman. A New Mechanism for Formation of Glycine from Glyoxylic Acid: the Aza‐Cannizzaro Reaction. Chemistry – A European Journal 2024, 30
(71)
https://doi.org/10.1002/chem.202403202
- Shaobin He, Long Ma, Qionghua Zheng, Zhuoran Wang, Wei Chen, Zihang Yu, Xiyun Yan, Kelong Fan. Peptide nanozymes: An emerging direction for functional enzyme mimics. Bioactive Materials 2024, 42 , 284-298. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bioactmat.2024.08.033
- Shoupeng Cao, Tsvetomir Ivanov, Julian Heuer, Calum T. J. Ferguson, Katharina Landfester, Lucas Caire da Silva. Dipeptide coacervates as artificial membraneless organelles for bioorthogonal catalysis. Nature Communications 2024, 15
(1)
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-44278-9
- Ayan Chatterjee, Surashree Goswami, Raushan Kumar, Janmejay Laha, Dibyendu Das. Emergence of a short peptide based reductase via activation of the model hydride rich cofactor. Nature Communications 2024, 15
(1)
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-48930-w
- David Q. P. Reis, Sara Pereira, Ana P. Ramos, Pedro M. Pereira, Leonor Morgado, Joana Calvário, Adriano O. Henriques, Mónica Serrano, Ana S. Pina. Catalytic peptide-based coacervates for enhanced function through structural organization and substrate specificity. Nature Communications 2024, 15
(1)
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-53699-z
- Judit E. Šponer, Rémi Coulon, Michal Otyepka, Jiří Šponer, Alexander F. Siegle, Oliver Trapp, Katarzyna Ślepokura, Zbyněk Zdráhal, Ondrej Šedo. Phosphoric acid salts of amino acids as a source of oligopeptides on the early Earth. Communications Chemistry 2024, 7
(1)
https://doi.org/10.1038/s42004-024-01264-6
- Daniel Whitaker, Matthew W. Powner. On the aqueous origins of the condensation polymers of life. Nature Reviews Chemistry 2024, 8
(11)
, 817-832. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41570-024-00648-5
- Jianlin Han, Alicja Wzorek, Gagan Dhawan, Wei Zhang, Alexander Sorochinsky, Daniel Baecker, Taizo Ono, Karel Klika, Vadim Soloshonok. NEW DRUGS ON THE PHARMACEUTICAL MARKET CONTAINING FLUORINE AND RESIDUES OF TAILOR-MADE AMINO ACIDS. Ukrainian Chemistry Journal 2024, 90
(9)
, 31-56. https://doi.org/10.33609/2708-129X.90.9.2024.31-56
- Ying Yan, Huaming Yang. Interactions of Clay Minerals with Biomolecules and Protocells Complex Structures in the Origin of Life: A Review. Advanced Functional Materials 2024, 34
(41)
https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.202406210
- Haidi Li, Lianjun Wang, Linyan Zhang, Yuxin Yang, Yuankui Jin, Jian Zhang, Taigang Liang. Scalable preparation of green C-terminal amidation peptide-synthesis TAGs and the optimized TAG-assisted liquid-phase synthesis of eptifibatide. Sustainable Chemistry and Pharmacy 2024, 41 , 101684. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scp.2024.101684
- Stanislav A. Pshenichnyuk, Nail L. Asfandiarov, Rustam G. Rakhmeyev, Alexei S. Komolov, Oleg E. Tereshchenko. Electron-driven processes in enantiomeric forms of glutamic acid initiated by low-energy resonance electron attachment. The Journal of Chemical Physics 2024, 161
(11)
https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0232036
- Jena E. Johnson, Theodore M. Present, Joan Selverstone Valentine. Iron: Life’s primeval transition metal. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 2024, 121
(38)
https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2318692121
- Luis Escobar. Covalent Linkages Used in Prebiotic Chemistry for RNA‐Templated Amino Acid Transfer and Peptide Synthesis. ChemSystemsChem 2024, 6
(5)
https://doi.org/10.1002/syst.202400030
- Lázaro A. M. Castanedo, Chérif F. Matta. Prebiotic N-(2-Aminoethyl)-Glycine (AEG)-Assisted Synthesis of Proto-RNA?. Journal of Molecular Evolution 2024, 92
(4)
, 449-466. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00239-024-10185-w
- Wei Wei, Fengjian Chu, Guanru Chen, Shiwen Zhou, Cuirong Sun, Hongru Feng, Yuanjiang Pan. Prebiotic Formation of Peptides Through Bubbling and Arc Plasma. Chemistry – A European Journal 2024, 30
(42)
https://doi.org/10.1002/chem.202401809
- Abel Moreno, Colin Bonduelle. New Insights on the Chemical Origin of Life: The Role of Aqueous Polymerization of
N
‐carboxyanhydrides (NCA). ChemPlusChem 2024, 89
(7)
https://doi.org/10.1002/cplu.202300492
- Soumen Kuila, Jayanta Nanda. Cysteine‐Based Dynamic Self‐Assembly and Their Importance in the Origins of Life. ChemSystemsChem 2024, 6
(4)
https://doi.org/10.1002/syst.202400022
- Charles D. Kocher, Ken A. Dill. The prebiotic emergence of biological evolution. Royal Society Open Science 2024, 11
(7)
https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.240431
- Linqing Wang, Jiaming Lv, Yongshuo Zhang, Dongxu Yang. Asymmetric magnesium catalysis for important chiral scaffold synthesis. Organic & Biomolecular Chemistry 2024, 22
(24)
, 4778-4800. https://doi.org/10.1039/D4OB00521J
- D. Gan, D. Liu, R. Zhou. Plausible Plasma Bubbles Provide the Common Origin of Amino acids and RNA-Nucleobases. 2024, 1-1. https://doi.org/10.1109/ICOPS58192.2024.10626255
- Taiki Mori, Sao Sumida, Kazuki Sakata, Seiji Shirakawa. Efficient synthetic methods for α,β-dehydroamino acids as useful and environmentally benign building blocks in biological and materials science. Organic & Biomolecular Chemistry 2024, 22
(23)
, 4625-4636. https://doi.org/10.1039/D4OB00507D
Article Views are the COUNTER-compliant sum of full text article downloads since November 2008 (both PDF and HTML) across all institutions and individuals. These metrics are regularly updated to reflect usage leading up to the last few days.
Citations are the number of other articles citing this article, calculated by Crossref and updated daily. Find more information about Crossref citation counts.
The Altmetric Attention Score is a quantitative measure of the attention that a research article has received online. Clicking on the donut icon will load a page at altmetric.com with additional details about the score and the social media presence for the given article. Find more information on the Altmetric Attention Score and how the score is calculated.