[M-IS03] アストロバイオロジー

[MIS03-08] Enzymatic thioester and thioacid formation from aldehydes

*Shawn E McGlynn¹、Kei Fukuda White² (1.Tokyo Institute of Technology、2.Earth-Life Science Institute, and School of Life Sciences and Technology, Tokyo Institute of Technology)

キーワード：thioester, thioacid, energy carrier

Cellular replication is predicated on chemical energy conversion. In metabolism, energy carriers such as adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and acetyl-Coenzyme A (CoA) are used to activate monomers prior to polymerization. How could such molecules be formed in early metabolism? We investigated the enzyme Glyceraldehyde 3-Phosphate Dehydrogenase (GAPDH) from the thermophilic bacterium Thermus aquatics and found the enzyme could support the formation of thioesters and thioacids, in addition to the native reaction of producing phosphate esters. This cross reactivity further opens the possibility that thioesters might have been an early energy currency - something first discussed by Racker in the late 50's. To our knowledge, this is also the first enzymatic reaction leading to a thioacid.