Re: origin of biological chirality?

Bob Casanova <nospam@buzz.off> wrote:

On Sun, 18 Aug 2024 00:08:49 +0100, the following appeared
in talk.origins, posted by Ernest Major
<{$to$}@meden.demon.co.uk>:
 

A study has found that lipid membranes can be selectively permeable to
one or the other sugar or amino acid enantiomer. The study used membrane
models inspired by the membranes of modern organisms, so is not directly
relevant to abiogenesis. However it still raises the possibility that
membrane selectivity was the source of chirality in biological
molecules. One possible issue is does this effect require chiral
membrane lipids; if so it only move the question of the origin of
chirality from sugars and amino acids to lipids.
>

ISTM that this is similar to the "matter/antimatter"
imbalance; neither is inherently more "natural" than the
other, but one became more prevalent. And IIRC, the m/am
imbalance is now assumed to be a matter of chance in the
original ratio. I could; of course, be mistaken in that;
it's been years since I followed it even casually.

>
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.04.23.590732v2.full.pdf

It isn't. The left-handed molecules can be converted into right-handed
ones, and vica versa, by taking them apart and reassembling them.
For matter/antimatter there is no such possibility.
Disassembling doesn't help,
because you cannot turn antiquarks into quarks.
 
Biological chirality is a triviality,
the matter/antimatter imbalance is a deep problem.
Where has all that antimatter gone?

Jan