The emergence of protometabolic reactions that evolved into today’s metabolic pathways is unclear. Now, evidence suggests that the chemical origin of biological carbon metabolism may have relied on the versatility of a single primitive C1 feedstock molecule — hydrogen cyanide.
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Islam, S. Cyanide at the origin of metabolism. Nat. Chem. 14, 123–125 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41557-021-00883-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41557-021-00883-z
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