Berlin 2012 – wissenschaftliches Programm

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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 29: Posters: Regulation

BP 29.1: Poster

Donnerstag, 29. März 2012, 17:30–19:30, Poster A

Autocatalytic processes in primordial reactions — •Sabrina Scherer — Universität des Saarlandes, Biologische Experimentalphysik

Stanley L. Miller made a revolutionary experiment in 1952. He discovered amino acids in a reaction of methane, ammonia, hydrogen and water, triggered with electric discharges and heat. We reproduced Miller’s experiment to understand the physical and chemical processes, which take place in the first biochemical reactions. Catalysts lead to the selection of specific reactions and push the corresponding reaction rates. To analyse the samples we use mass spectrometry. In our spectra, we detect two different states. One of them consists of hundreds of different masses. In contrast, the other state displays well-ordered spectra with many equidistant peaks. The alternating appearance of these two states over time points to a competing system in which several catalytic cycles could be involved. We suspect self-reproductive and autocatalytic cycles to play a significant role in chemical evolution.