For the first time, CD spectra in the vacuum UV spectral region were obtained where the Bindarit photon energy is higher than the dissociation energy of the amino acids allowing enantioselective photolysis reactions. Second, in order to achieve vacuum UV asymmetric photodecomposition of racemic mixtures of solid state amino acids, circularly polarized synchrotron

radiation was used www.selleckchem.com/products/BEZ235.html to irradiate the samples. After photodecomposition, the enantiomeric excess was found to be +2.6% in the case of leucine (Meierhenrich et al. 2005), data on other amino acids will be presented. The results will be verified by the ‘chirality-experiment’ onboard the Rosetta Lander, which will allow the quantification of chiral organic molecules on a cometary surface (Thiemann and Meierhenrich, 2001). Meierhenrich, U. J. (2008). Amino acids and the asymmetry of life—caught in the act of formation. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg, New York. Meierhenrich, U. J., Muñoz Caro, G. M., Bredehöft, J.

H., Jessberger, E. K., Thiemann, W. H.-P. (2004). Identification of diamino acids in the Murchison meteorite. Proc. Natl. Y27632 Acad. Science, 101:9182–9186. Meierhenrich, U. J., Nahon, L., Alcaraz, C., Bredehöft, J. H., Hoffmann, S. V., Barbier, B., Brack, A. (2005). Asymmetric vacuum UV photolysis of the amino acid leucine in the solid state. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 44:5630–5634. Muñoz Caro, G. M., Meierhenrich, U. J., Schutte, W. A., Barbier, B., Arcones Segovia, A., Rosenbauer, H., Thiemann, W. H.-P., Brack, A., Greenberg, J. M. (2002). Amino acids from ultraviolet irradiation of interstellar ice analogues. Nature, 416:403–406. Thiemann, W. H.-P., Meierhenrich, U. J. (2001) ESA mission ROSETTA will probe for chirality of cometary amino acids. Orig. Life Evol. Biosphere 31:199–210. E-mail: Uwe.​Meierhenrich@unice.​fr RNA World Evolution of RNA Cooperation on the Rocks Sergio Branciamore1,2, Walter de Back2, Enzo Gallori1 1Department of Animal Biology and Genetics, University of Florence, Via Romana 17/19, 50125 Firenze; 2Collegium Budapest. Institute

for Advanced Study. Szentháromság utca 2. H-1014 Budapest, Hungary The appearance of cooperative interaction between self-replicating molecules constitutes the first major transition in these replicators evolution towards the earliest forms of life (Maynard-Smith and Szathmary 1995). Presumably, these replicators Ceramide glucosyltransferase interacted through a common metabolic pathway, in which all performed a specific enzymatic function. This implies that, at some point in the RNA world (Gilbert, 1986; Joyce and Orgel, 1999), two or more molecular species with specific and complementary catalytic activities must have been found, in the same place and at the same time, that enabled a stable metabolic pathway. Given the enormous sequence space, plus the fact that there is no selective reason for fixation of a particular ribozyme without a pre-existent pathway, it seems almost impossible that a functional metabolism arises.