scholarly journals Exploring the Kamchatka Geothermal Region in the Context of Life’s Beginning

Life ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 41
Author(s):  
Vladimir N. Kompanichenko
Keyword(s):  
Origin Of Life ◽  
Organic Compounds ◽  
Hot Spring ◽  
Hydrothermal Systems ◽  
Organic Composition ◽  
Temperature Oscillations ◽  
The Origin Of Life ◽  
Geothermal Region ◽  
Hydrothermal Water

This article is a brief review of research in the Kamchatka geothermal region initiated by David Deamer and the author in 1999. Results obtained over the last 20 years are described, including a seminal experiment in which biologically important organic compounds were dispersed in a hot spring to determine their fate. Other investigations include ionic and organic composition of hydrothermal water, the source of hydrothermally generated oil, and pressure–temperature oscillations in hydrothermal systems. The relation of these results to research on the origin of life is discussed.

The Tempo and mode(S) of Prebiotic Evolution

1997 ◽  
Vol 161 ◽  
pp. 419-429 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antonio Lazcano
Keyword(s):  
Origin Of Life ◽  
Organic Compounds ◽  
Biological Evolution ◽  
Current Evidence ◽  
Early Diversification ◽  
Time Period ◽  
The Galaxy ◽  
History Of ◽  
Widespread Phenomenon ◽  
The Origin Of Life

AbstractDifferent current ideas on the origin of life are critically examined. Comparison of the now fashionable FeS/H2S pyrite-based autotrophic theory of the origin of life with the heterotrophic viewpoint suggest that the later is still the most fertile explanation for the emergence of life. However, the theory of chemical evolution and heterotrophic origins of life requires major updating, which should include the abandonment of the idea that the appearance of life was a slow process involving billions of years. Stability of organic compounds and the genetics of bacteria suggest that the origin and early diversification of life took place in a time period of the order of 10 million years. Current evidence suggest that the abiotic synthesis of organic compounds may be a widespread phenomenon in the Galaxy and may have a deterministic nature. However, the history of the biosphere does not exhibits any obvious trend towards greater complexity or «higher» forms of life. Therefore, the role of contingency in biological evolution should not be understimated in the discussions of the possibilities of life in the Universe.

scholarly journals Impact-Induced Hydrothermal Systems on Early Earth: CH4 Production and the Origin of Life

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kazumu Kaneko ◽  
Yasuhito Sekine ◽  
Takazo Shibuya ◽  
Hisahiro Ueda ◽  
Natsumi Noda
Keyword(s):  
Origin Of Life ◽  
Hydrothermal Systems ◽  
Early Earth ◽  
Ch4 Production ◽  
The Origin Of Life

scholarly journals Spontaneous assembly of redox-active iron-sulfur clusters at low concentrations of cysteine

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sean F. Jordan ◽  
Ioannis Ioannou ◽  
Hanadi Rammu ◽  
Aaron Halpern ◽  
Lara K. Bogart ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Electron Transfer ◽  
Origin Of Life ◽  
Cluster Formation ◽  
Hydrothermal Systems ◽  
Salting Out ◽  
Mononuclear Iron ◽  
Iron Sulfur ◽  
Redox Active ◽  
Vis Spectroscopy ◽  
The Origin Of Life

AbstractIron-sulfur (FeS) proteins are ancient and fundamental to life, being involved in electron transfer and CO2 fixation. FeS clusters have structures similar to the unit-cell of FeS minerals such as greigite, found in hydrothermal systems linked with the origin of life. However, the prebiotic pathway from mineral surfaces to biological clusters is unknown. Here we show that FeS clusters form spontaneously through interactions of inorganic Fe2+/Fe3+ and S2− with micromolar concentrations of the amino acid cysteine in water at alkaline pH. Bicarbonate ions stabilize the clusters and even promote cluster formation alone at concentrations >10 mM, probably through salting-out effects. We demonstrate robust, concentration-dependent formation of [4Fe4S], [2Fe2S] and mononuclear iron clusters using UV-Vis spectroscopy, 57Fe-Mössbauer spectroscopy and 1H-NMR. Cyclic voltammetry shows that the clusters are redox-active. Our findings reveal that the structures responsible for biological electron transfer and CO2 reduction could have formed spontaneously from monomers at the origin of life.

scholarly journals Self-assembly processes in the prebiotic environment

2006 ◽  
Vol 361 (1474) ◽  
pp. 1809-1818 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Deamer ◽  
Sara Singaram ◽  
Sudha Rajamani ◽  
Vladimir Kompanichenko ◽  
Stephen Guggenheim
Keyword(s):  
Origin Of Life ◽  
Organic Compounds ◽  
Self Assembly ◽  
Initial Study ◽  
Aqueous Environment ◽  
Organic Solutes ◽  
Mineral Surfaces ◽  
Molecular Systems ◽  
Intermediate Temperature Range ◽  
The Origin Of Life

An important question guiding research on the origin of life concerns the environmental conditions where molecular systems with the properties of life first appeared on the early Earth. An appropriate site would require liquid water, a source of organic compounds, a source of energy to drive polymerization reactions and a process by which the compounds were sufficiently concentrated to undergo physical and chemical interactions. One such site is a geothermal setting, in which organic compounds interact with mineral surfaces to promote self-assembly and polymerization reactions. Here, we report an initial study of two geothermal sites where mixtures of representative organic solutes (amino acids, nucleobases, a fatty acid and glycerol) and phosphate were mixed with high-temperature water in clay-lined pools. Most of the added organics and phosphate were removed from solution with half-times measured in minutes to a few hours. Analysis of the clay, primarily smectite and kaolin, showed that the organics were adsorbed to the mineral surfaces at the acidic pH of the pools, but could subsequently be released in basic solutions. These results help to constrain the range of possible environments for the origin of life. A site conducive to self-assembly of organic solutes would be an aqueous environment relatively low in ionic solutes, at an intermediate temperature range and neutral pH ranges, in which cyclic concentration of the solutes can occur by transient dry intervals.

scholarly journals Thioester synthesis through geoelectrochemical CO2 fixation on Ni sulfides

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Norio Kitadai ◽  
Ryuhei Nakamura ◽  
Masahiro Yamamoto ◽  
Satoshi Okada ◽  
Wataru Takahagi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Monoxide ◽  
Origin Of Life ◽  
Deep Sea ◽  
Room Temperature ◽  
Nickel Sulfide ◽  
Co2 Fixation ◽  
Hydrothermal Systems ◽  
Standard Hydrogen Electrode ◽  
Hydrogen Electrode ◽  
The Origin Of Life

AbstractA prevailing scenario of the origin of life postulates thioesters as key intermediates in protometabolism, but there is no experimental support for the prebiotic CO2 fixation routes to thioesters. Here we demonstrate that, under a simulated geoelectrochemical condition in primordial ocean hydrothermal systems (–0.6 to –1.0 V versus the standard hydrogen electrode), nickel sulfide (NiS) gradually reduces to Ni0, while accumulating surface-bound carbon monoxide (CO) due to CO2 electroreduction. The resultant partially reduced NiS realizes thioester (S-methyl thioacetate) formation from CO and methanethiol even at room temperature and neutral pH with the yield up to 35% based on CO. This thioester formation is not inhibited, or even improved, by 50:50 coprecipitation of NiS with FeS or CoS (the maximum yields; 27 or 56%, respectively). Such a simple thioester synthesis likely occurred in Hadean deep-sea vent environments, setting a stage for the autotrophic origin of life.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document