NASA生命起源整合中心Moran Frenkel-Pinter研究小组取得一项新突破。他们的论文发现了复杂化学混合物的演化，揭示了组合压缩和种群同步性。相关论文发表在2025年2月12日出版的《Nature Chemistry》杂志上。

在这里，课题组建立了一个化学进化的实验模型来研究化学系统不断变化的一般过程。该团队将水作为化学反应物、产物和介质。在含羧酸、胺、硫醇和羟基的有机分子混合物中，该课题组研究人员利用水在近环境温度下的振荡活度来调节接近平衡反应的羧化棘轮。它们的系统(1)在整个实验过程中，随着过渡到新的化学空间而不断变化，而不收敛；(2)具有严格的化学选择的组合压缩；(3)显示分子居群的同步性。他们的研究结果表明，化学进化和选择可以在有机混合物中观察到，并可能最终适用于产生具有新结构和功能的广泛分子。

研究人员表示，关于生命起源的许多悬而未决的问题都集中在复杂化学物种的产生上。过去的工作描述了可能导致生物分子的特定化学反应。

附：英文原文

Title: Evolution of complex chemical mixtures reveals combinatorial compression and population synchronicity

Author: Matange, Kavita, Rajaei, Vahab, Capera-Aragones, Pau, Costner, John T., Robertson, Adelaide, Kim, Jennifer Seoyoung, Petrov, Anton S., Bowman, Jessica C., Williams, Loren Dean, Frenkel-Pinter, Moran

Issue&Volume: 2025-02-12

Abstract: Many open questions about the origins of life are centred on the generation of complex chemical species. Past work has characterized specific chemical reactions that might lead to biological molecules. Here we establish an experimental model of chemical evolution to investigate general processes by which chemical systems continuously change. We used water as a chemical reactant, product and medium. We leveraged oscillating water activity at near-ambient temperatures to cause ratcheting of near-equilibrium reactions in mixtures of organic molecules containing carboxylic acids, amines, thiols and hydroxyl groups. Our system (1) undergoes continuous change with transitions to new chemical spaces while not converging throughout the experiment; (2) demonstrates combinatorial compression with stringent chemical selection; and (3) displays synchronicity of molecular populations. Our results suggest that chemical evolution and selection can be observed in organic mixtures and might ultimately be adapted to produce a broad array of molecules with novel structures and functions.

DOI: 10.1038/s41557-025-01734-x

Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41557-025-01734-x