Spontaneous mirror symmetry breaking in nature and the origin of life

Abstract

Theoretical and experimental studies of the problem of mirror symmetry breaking in Nature in the course of the origin of life are discussed.The interplay of three main factors—statistical fluctuations, advantage factor (AF) and racemizing processes is taken into account.The detailed analysis of existing data leads to the following scheme of main stages of the formation of life: 1. Prebiotic monomer formation, i.e., the formation and accumulation of various components of future biopolymers in racemic form (‘‘warm‘‘‐terrestrial, and ‘‘cold’’‐extraterrestrial scenarios are discussed). 2. Chiral purity formation, i.e., the cooperative bifurcation‐type chiral polarization of the prebiotic medium. The sign of such polarization at the Earth (D‐sugars and L‐amino acids) seems to be accidental rather than determined by the violation of parity in weak interactions. 3. Formation of oligomeric tracers of chiral specific activity, i.e., the formation of protobiological structures (apparently, starting with RNA) up to several hundreds monomer units by matrix polymerization in chirally pure media. 4. Self‐enzymatric block synthesis of biological macromolecules (RNA, DNA, proteins) and more complex systems.The possibilities of the destruction of the biosphere due to long‐term racemizing inpacts are also discussed.