Why do not polyhydroxylated amino acids exist on the earth?
When various types of molecules such as water, aldehydes, ammonia, and hydrogen cyanide are available, amino acids can be formed under certain conditions. The polyhydroxylated aldehydes, carbohydrates, are formed from formaldehyde as well when conditions are fixed. If these species existed in a same period on the ancient earth, a series of polyhydroxylated amino acids could have been formed. If the type of amino acids were available, life could have relied on the array of amino acids. In turn, we might have evolved to use them. However, there are no known such molecules, as far as I know. Carbohydrates consisting of greater number of carbon atoms, say more than four carbons, tend to form intramolecular acetals, hemiacetals. This may explain some. But then why did not shorter ones react with ammonia and so on? Does any one have any answer or idea about this?
What is the origin of molecules used in forming life?
Imagination explodes when thinking back and forth in time. The evolution of our beings being together with other beings sharing a same slice of time that is controlled by the evolution of the universe itself intrigues us who might also share the time with yet-to-see other intelligent beings. It was considered that constituting fundamental molecules of life including nucleotides, amino acids, and carbohydrates were “synthesized” on the earth in early stage. However, no one knows why a series of polyhydroxylated amino acids was not formed. (See above) Would new life form using atoms and elemental molecules forming our bodies, which is spread to the space, as time goes and when our solar system or the galaxy dies? What then would it be? Who knows the “reason” of maintaining and delivering a “molecular logic” as a genetic information among species along timeline. Although it is nonsense trying to find any reason of the phenomenon, we also exist based on the evidence and further developed to have nerve system and the brain that is used for creating and delivering “artificial logic” such as languages. The language has been enforced by the invention of methods of storage (writing), multiplication (printing), and acceleration (computation) and is always with us. These two different logics conceptually resemble in the essence of the delivering information. Both logics do not seem to care about the form or the shape. However, the rate and volume of artificial logic are continuing to increase. It is considered that such artificial logic developed by one of species, human, is governed by higher concept of life that is the delivering information by means of molecular logic. It might be natural to conclude that human is “required” to deliver the artificial logic not just to some generations but also to some other intelligent species emerging after human race extinction. Would it be possible for us to deliver the logic itself to whom we know nothing about and to whom does not exist yet? What if we find somewhere some foreign logic that has been “sent” by others who lived billions of years ago? Thoughts explode along the timeline and space.
