Borophosphates and silicophosphates as plausible contributors to the emergence of life

Silva, José Armando L. da; Holm, Nils G.

doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2014.02.034

Cited by 20 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 75 publications

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“…We therefore asked whether this fact might allow such borophosphate [29] evaporite mineral assemblages to address the phosphate problem, as well as the other problems listed above,bys egregating calcium and phosphate ( Figure 1). …”

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confidence: 76%

Evaporite Borate‐Containing Mineral Ensembles Make Phosphate Available and Regiospecifically Phosphorylate Ribonucleosides: Borate as a Multifaceted Problem Solver in Prebiotic Chemistry

et al. 2016

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RNAi sc urrently thought to have been the first biopolymer to support Darwinian natural selection on Earth. However,the phosphate esters in RNAand its precursors,and the many sites at which phosphorylation might occur in ribonucleosides under conditions that make it possible,c hallenge prebiotic chemists.M oreover,f ree inorganic phosphate may have been scarce on early Earth owing to its sequestration by calcium in the unreactive mineral hydroxyapatite.Herein, it is shown that these problems can be mitigated by ap articular geological environment that contains borate,m agnesium, sulfate,c alcium, and phosphate in evaporite deposits.A ctual geological environments,reproduced here,show that Mg 2+ and borate sequester phosphate from calcium to form the mineral lüneburgite.R ibonucleosides stabilized by borate mobilize borate and phosphate from lüneburgite,a nd are then regiospecifically phosphorylated by the mineral. Thus,inaddition to guiding carbohydrate pre-metabolism, borate minerals in evaporite geoorganic contexts offer asolution to the phosphate problem in the "RNAfirst" model for the origins of life.

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confidence: 76%

Evaporite Borate‐Containing Mineral Ensembles Make Phosphate Available and Regiospecifically Phosphorylate Ribonucleosides: Borate as a Multifaceted Problem Solver in Prebiotic Chemistry

et al. 2016

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“…Despite the aforementioned century-long use of BCCs in the biomedical field, and the possible importance of these compounds for the beginning of primordial life as we know it (Scorei, 2012;Neveu, 2013;Stephenson, 2013;Silva, 2014), only scarce data exists about the biological effects induced by these compounds. With the exception of the last 15 years, the advances in the last century were limited to establishing the importance of boron (especially boric acid) in the nutrition of all types of living organisms (Nielsen, 1991;Hunt, 1996;Nielsen, 2014), or to reporting its toxicological effects.…”

Section: The Origins Of Avoidance Of Bccs In Medicinementioning

confidence: 99%

Current data regarding the structure-toxicity relationship of boron-containing compounds

et al. 2016

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“…Their descriptions reference an “oxygen fugacity” (an effective partial pressure of oxygen) and the relative oxidizability of atoms in a mineral. Thus, minerals invoked by various path‐hypotheses, including phosphate, borate, phosphoborate, silicate, aluminosilicate, molybdate, sulfite, and sulfate (Table ), all have abundant oxygen. Of these, sulfite (SO 3 2− ), sulfate (SO 4 2− ), and molybdate (MoO 4 2− ) require environments that have an oxygen fugacity near or above the fayalite‐magnetite‐quartz equilibrium (FMQ, Fe 2 SiO 4 −Fe 3 O 4 −SiO 2 ) that typifies Earth′s upper mantle today .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

When Did Life Likely Emerge on Earth in an RNA‐First Process?

et al. 2019

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The widespread presence of ribonucleic acid (RNA) catalysts and cofactors in the Earth′s biosphere today suggests that RNA was the first biopolymer to support Darwinian evolution. However, most “path‐hypotheses” to generate building blocks for RNA require reduced nitrogen‐containing compounds not made in useful amounts in the CO2−N2−H2O atmospheres of the Hadean. We review models for Earth′s impact history that invoke a single ∼1023 kg impactor (Moneta) to account for measured amounts of platinum, gold, and other siderophilic (“iron‐loving”) elements on the Earth and Moon. If it were the last sterilizing impactor, by reducing the atmosphere but not the mantle Moneta, would have opened a “window of opportunity” for RNA synthesis, a period when RNA precursors rained from the atmosphere onto land holding oxidized minerals that stabilize advanced RNA precursors and RNA. Surprisingly, this combination of physics, geology, and chemistry suggests a time when RNA formation was most probable, ∼120±100 million years after Moneta′s impact, or ∼4.36±0.1 billion years ago. Uncertainties in this time are driven by uncertainties in rates of productive atmosphere loss and amounts of sub‐aerial land.

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Borophosphates and silicophosphates as plausible contributors to the emergence of life

Cited by 20 publications

References 75 publications

Evaporite Borate‐Containing Mineral Ensembles Make Phosphate Available and Regiospecifically Phosphorylate Ribonucleosides: Borate as a Multifaceted Problem Solver in Prebiotic Chemistry

Evaporite Borate‐Containing Mineral Ensembles Make Phosphate Available and Regiospecifically Phosphorylate Ribonucleosides: Borate as a Multifaceted Problem Solver in Prebiotic Chemistry

Current data regarding the structure-toxicity relationship of boron-containing compounds

When Did Life Likely Emerge on Earth in an RNA‐First Process?

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