Partitioning of amino acids and proteins into decanol using phase transfer agents towards understanding life in non-polar liquids

Water has many roles in the context of life on Earth, however throughout the universe, other liquids may be able to support the emergence of life. We looked at the ability of amino acids, peptides, a depsipeptide, and proteins to partition into a non-polar decanol phase, with and without the additio...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Scientific reports 2019-11, Vol.9 (1), p.17750-7, Article 17750
Main Authors: Thompson, Brooke, Burt, Kayla, Lee, Andrew, Lingard, Kyle, Maurer, Sarah E.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
639/301/923/916
639/638/904
704/445/3929
Amino acids
Amino Acids - chemistry
Animals
Cattle
DNA-directed DNA polymerase
Fatty Alcohols - chemistry
High-performance liquid chromatography
Humanities and Social Sciences
Liquid chromatography
multidisciplinary
Peptides
Polymers
Proteins - chemistry
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
Serum Albumin, Bovine - chemistry
Solubility
Solvents - chemistry
Ultraviolet radiation
Valinomycin
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Summary:Water has many roles in the context of life on Earth, however throughout the universe, other liquids may be able to support the emergence of life. We looked at the ability of amino acids, peptides, a depsipeptide, and proteins to partition into a non-polar decanol phase, with and without the addition of a phase transfer agent. Partitioning evaluated using UV detection, or with HPLC coupled to either charged aerosol detection or ESI-MS. For amino acids and short peptides, phase transfer agents were used to move the biomolecules to the decanol phase, and this transfer was pH dependent. For larger molecules, phase transfer agents did not seem to affect the transfer. Both the depsipetide, valinomycin, and the protein Taq DNA polymerase had solubility in the decanol phase. Additionally, valinomycin appeared to retain its biological ability to bind to potassium ions. These results show that most terrestrial biological molecules are not compatible with non-polar solvents, but it is possible to find and perhaps evolve polymers that are functional in such phases.
ISSN:2045-2322
2045-2322
DOI:10.1038/s41598-019-54322-8