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Energy propagation through a protometabolism leading to the local emergence of singular stationary concentration profiles

par Emond, Matthieu;Le Saux, Thomas;Allemand, Jean-Francois;Pelupessy, Philippe;Plasson, Raphaël ;Jullien, Ludovic
Référence Chemistry, 18, 45, page (14375-14383)
Publication Publié, 2012-11

Article révisé par les pairs

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Résumé :

Living systems rely on chains of energy transfer from an energy source to maintain their metabolism. This task requires functionally identified components and organizations. However, propagation of a sustained energy flux through a cascade of reaction cycles has never been reproduced at a steady state in a simple chemical system. By using energy patterning and a diffusing hub reactant, we achieved the transfer of energy through an abiotic protometabolism. Patterned illumination was applied to a liquid solution of a reversible photoacid. It resulted in the local onset of a proton pump, which subsequently drove an extended reaction-diffusion cycle that involved pH-sensitive reactants. Thus, light has been used for locally setting out of chemical equilibrium a reaction involving "blind" reactants. The spontaneous onset of an energy-transfer chain notably drives the local generation of singular dissipative chemical structures; continuous matter fluxes are dynamically maintained at boundaries between spatially and chemically segregated zones, in the absence of any membrane or predetermined material structure. Copyright © 2012 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.