Amino acids and the asymmetry of life

More about the book

The central theme of this book revolves around the intriguing question of how life originated and why left-handed molecules were favored in its architecture. It highlights the significant imbalance between left-handed amino acids and their right-handed counterparts during the processes that initiated life on Earth. This imbalance led to the exclusive use of left-handed amino acids in the proteins that constitute life today. The author presents an engaging narrative on the formation of amino acids, starting with a clear introduction to stereochemistry. The book explores the reasons behind the left-handed preference of amino acids in living organisms and investigates the violation of parity in their emergence. Various captivating models proposed by physicists, chemists, and biologists are discussed, revealing the scientific debates surrounding the topic. Additionally, the author examines efforts to validate these models through the chirality module of the ROSETTA mission, which aimed to analyze chiral organic compounds potentially delivered to Earth by cometary impacts. This interdisciplinary exploration of astrobiology will captivate students, researchers, and anyone with an interest in the natural sciences. A foreword by Henri B. Kagan adds further depth to the discussion.