LAUSR

Significance Essential biomolecules, like amino acids and sugars, are chiral; they exist in mirror symmetrical pairs named enantiomers. However, modern life selectively uses only one of the enantiomers. The origin of this chiral symmetry breaking remains elusive to date and is a major puzzle in the origin of life research. Here, we consider spin-polarized electrons as potential chiral symmetry-breaking agents utilizing the robust coupling between electron spin and molecular chirality at room temperature as established by the chiral-induced spin selectivity effect. We propose that chiral bias is induced and maintained with enantioselective reduction chemistry driven by such spin-polarized electrons that are ejected from magnetite deposits in shallow prebiotic lakes by solar ultraviolet irradiation.