UCLA
scientists unlock mystery of how 'handedness' arises
(May 08,
2012) The
overwhelming majority of proteins and other functional molecules in our bodies
display a striking molecular characteristic: They can exist in two distinct
forms that are mirror images of each other, like your right hand and left hand.
Surprisingly, each of our bodies prefers only one of these molecular forms.
This
mirror-image phenomenon — known as chirality or "handedness" — has
captured the imagination of a UCLA research group led by Thomas G. Mason, a
professor of chemistry and physics and a member of the California NanoSystems
Institute at UCLA.
Mason has
been exploring how and why chirality arises, and his newest findings on the
physical origins of the phenomenon were published May 1 in the journal Nature
Communications.
"Objects
like our hands are chiral, while objects like regular triangles are achiral,
meaning they don't have a handedness to them," said Mason, the senior
author of the study. "Achiral objects can be easily superimposed on top of
one another."
Why many of
the important functional molecules in our bodies almost always occur in just
one chiral form when they could potentially exist in either is a mystery that
has confounded researchers for years.
"Our
bodies contain important molecules like proteins that overwhelmingly have one
type of chirality," Mason said. "The other chiral form is essentially
not found. I find that fascinating. We asked, 'Could this biological preference
of a particular chirality possibly have a physical origin?'"