标题： 愚人金：配体-受体相互作用与生命的起源 显示英文标题

标题： Fool's gold: ligand-receptor interactions and the origins of life

摘要： 生命的起源是一个持续吸引跨学科科学家的问题。 一种理论——铁硫理论——认为合成生物材料的关键反应是由矿物表面，如黄铁矿（俗称愚人金）提供的催化“火花”。 此外，在这种“表面代谢”中合成的配体的结合亲和力起到了早期自然选择的作用：结合力更强的配体被积累到进一步的自催化反应中，并促进了复杂生物材料的聚集。 因此，配体-受体结合是生命起源的基础。 在本文中，我们以铁硫理论为视角，回顾今天更普遍理解的配体-受体相互作用。 特别是，我们关注从量子生物学研究中出现的受体激活的电子隧穿理论。 我们重新审视对该理论的批评，尤其是受体中电子转移缺乏证据的问题，以查看在生命起源时由黄铁矿介导的配体-受体相互作用可能提供哪些见解。 通过这种比较可以得出，受体中的氧化还原活性具有核心重要性，特别是与二硫键的反复出现有关。 虽然本文是一项推测性研究，但我们得出结论，生物分子中的导电性，尤其是由适当的配体-受体结合赋予的选择性导电性，是理解药理效力和病毒感染等多种现象的强大工具。 因此，它值得进一步研究。 显示英文摘要

摘要： The origins of life is a question that continues to intrigue scientists across disciplines. One theory - the iron-sulphur theory - suggests that reactions essential to the synthesis of biological materials got their catalytic 'spark' from mineral surfaces such as iron pyrite, commonly known as fool's gold. Additionally, the binding affinity of the ligands synthesised in this 'surface metabolism' acted as an early version of natural selection: more strongly-binding ligands were accumulated into further autocatalytic reactions and the aggregation of complex biological materials. Ligand-receptor binding is thus fundamental to the origins of life. In this paper, we use the iron-sulphur theory as a lens through which to review ligand-receptor interactions as they are more commonly understood today. In particular we focus on the electron tunnelling theory of receptor activation that has emerged from research into quantum biology. We revisit criticism against this theory, particularly the lack of evidence for electron transfer in receptors, to see what insights might be offered by ligand-receptor interactions mediated by iron pyrite at the origins of life. What emerges from this comparison is the central importance of redox activity in receptors, in particular with respect to the recurring presence of the disulphide bond. While the paper is a speculative exercise, we conclude that conductivity in biomolecules, particularly the selective conductivity conferred by appropriate ligand-receptor binding, is a powerful tool for understanding diverse phenomena such as pharmacological potency and viral infection. As such it deserves further investigation.