Kavli Affiliate: Roger D. Blandford
| First 5 Authors: Noemie Globus, Roger D. Blandford, , ,
| Summary:
Biological molecules chose one of two structurally, chiral systems which are
related by reflection in a mirror. It is proposed that this choice was made,
causally, by magnetically polarized and physically chiral cosmic-rays, which
are known to have a large role in mutagenesis. It is shown that the cosmic rays
can impose a small, but persistent, chiral bias in the rate at which they
induce structural changes in simple, chiral monomers that are the building
blocks of biopolymers. A much larger effect should be present with helical
biopolymers, in particular, those that may have been the progenitors of RNA and
DNA. It is shown that the interaction can be both electrostatic, just involving
the molecular electric field, and electromagnetic, also involving a magnetic
field. It is argued that this bias can lead to the emergence of a single,
chiral life form over an evolutionary timescale. If this mechanism dominates,
then the handedness of living systems should be universal. Experiments are
proposed to assess the efficacy of this process.
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