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Proteinoids, or thermal proteins, are protein-like, often cross-linked molecules formed abiotically from amino acids.[1] Sidney W. Fox initially proposed that they may have been precursors to the first living cells (protocells).[1] The term was also used in the 1960s to describe peptides that are shorter than twenty amino acids found in hydrolysed protein,[2] but this term is no longer commonly used.[1]
- ^ a b c Fox SW, Klaus D (1977). Molecular Evolution and the Origin of Life. W. H. Freeman & Co Ltd. ISBN 978-0-7167-0163-7.
- ^ Hayakawa T, Windsor CR, Fox SW (February 1967). "Copolymerization of the Leuchs anhydrides of the eighteen amino acids common to protein". Archives of Biochemistry and Biophysics. 118 (2): 265–272. doi:10.1016/0003-9861(67)90347-5. hdl:2060/19660025877. PMID 6033704.