Energetics of the First Life

Mulkidjanian, Armen Y.

doi:10.1007/978-3-642-21625-1_1

Cited by 7 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 200 publications

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“…Further comparison, considering more realistic concentrations and associated effects of UV absorption, will be realized in future work. One promising conclusion drawn from our results is that shallow ferrous aqueous ponds (Mulkidjanian, 2011 ; Damer and Deamer, 2015 ; Deamer, 2017 ) located, for example, over iron-rich soils, could be a prominent candidate for a place of life origin.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 66%

Aquatic Ferrous Solutions of Prebiotic Mineral Salts as Strong UV Protectants and Possible Loci of Life Origin

Субботин

Fiksel

2023

Astrobiology

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Liposomes are lipid-bilayer vesicles that spontaneously self-assemble from fatty acids (or other amphiphiles) in water by encapsulating surrounding aqueous media. After British scientist Alec Bangham described this phenomenon in the early 1960s, they became a prominent participant in the hypotheses on life origin, particularly in the Lipid World model. A novel scenario of self-sustained Darwinian liposome evolution is based on ever-present natural phenomena of cyclic day/night solar UV radiation and gravitational submersion of liposomes in the Archean aqueous media. One of the assumptions of the hypothesis is the UV-shielding ability of the Archean waters that could protect the submerged liposomes from the damaging solar UV radiation. To corroborate the idea, we measured UV absorption in aquatic solutions of several ferrous mineral salts assumed to be present in Archean pools. Single-agent solutions of simple salts such as FeCl 2 —iron dichloride, FeCl 3 —iron trichoride, Fe(NO 3 ) 3 —ferric nitride, NH 4 Fe(SO 4 ) 2 —ferric ammonium sulfate, and (NH 4 ) 5 [Fe(C 6 H 4 O 7 ) 2 ]—ferric ammonium citrate were tested. These direct measurements of UV light absorption supplement and reinforce the proposed hypothesis.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 66%

Aquatic Ferrous Solutions of Prebiotic Mineral Salts as Strong UV Protectants and Possible Loci of Life Origin

Субботин

Fiksel

2023

Astrobiology

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“…At this point, we would like to change the dwelling of the hypothesized events from the bottomless ocean (hydrothermal vents) to the localized fields emerging above sea level, such as hot springs, boiling pools, geysers, fumaroles, and shallow aqueous pools associated with these hydrothermal fields (Mulkidjanian, 2011 ; Damer and Deamer, 2015 ; Deamer, 2017 ). In this new scenario, all submerging heavy liposomes will not be scattered in the water depth; but eventually, all appear spatially in the same plane, that is, congregate at the bottom of a pool and become protected from the damaging UV radiation during daytime.…”

Section: The Extended Version Of Our Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring the Lipid World Hypothesis: A Novel Scenario of Self-Sustained Darwinian Evolution of the Liposomes

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Fiksel

2023

Astrobiology

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According to the Lipid World hypothesis, life on Earth originated with the emergence of amphiphilic assemblies in the form of lipid micelles and vesicles (liposomes). However, the mechanism of appearance of the information molecules (ribozymes/RNA) accompanying that process, considered obligatory for Darwinian evolution, is unclear. We propose a novel scenario of self-sustained Darwinian evolution of the liposomes driven by ever-present natural phenomena: solar UV radiation, day/night cycle, gravity, and the formation of liposomes in an aqueous media. The central tenet of this scenario is the liposomes' encapsulation of the heavy solutes, followed by their gravitational submerging in the water. The submerged liposomes, being protected from the damaging UV radiation, acquire the longevity necessary for autocatalytic replication of amphiphiles, their mutation, and the selection of those amphiphilic assemblies that provide the greatest membrane stability. These two sets of adaptive compositional information (heavy content and amphiphilic assemblies design) generate a population of liposomes with self-replication/reproduction properties, which are amendable to mutation, inheritance, and selection, thereby establishing Darwinian progression. Temporary and spatial expansion of this liposomal population will provide the basis for the next evolutionary step—a transition of accidentally entrapped RNA precursor molecules into complex functional molecules, such as ribozymes/RNA.

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“…Despite several works describing the potentially prebiotic Lipid World, − predominantly relying on Fischer–Tropsch-like geochemical processes furnishing long-chain amphiphiles and hydrocarbons, experimental work that recapitulates nonenzymatic fatty acid biosynthesis has been scarce. Another reason for the omission of fatty acids is that their potential contribution to the compartmentalization observed in cells, if it was required at the origin of life, might have been achieved by other means, including inorganic compartments in rocks or minerals or by other types of organics present in a protometabolism. − Certainly, this should not discourage the readers from undertaking experimental efforts into biochemistry-inspired abiotic fatty acid synthesis! Additionally, we do not discuss the biosynthesis of cofactors, whether organic or inorganic, , as this has been covered in a prebiotic context in a recent review .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nonenzymatic Metabolic Reactions and Life’s Origins

2020

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Prebiotic chemistry aims to explain how the biochemistry of life as we know it came to be. Most efforts in this area have focused on provisioning compounds of importance to life by multi-step synthetic routes that do not resemble biochemistry. However, gaining insight into why core metabolism uses the molecules, reactions, pathways, and overall organization that it does requires us to consider molecules not only as synthetic end goals. Equally important are the dynamic processes that build them up and break them down. This perspective has led many researchers to the hypothesis that the first stage of the origin of life began with the onset of a primitive non-enzymatic version of metabolism, initially catalyzed by naturally occurring minerals and metal ions. This view of life's origins has come to be known as "metabolism first". Continuity with modern metabolism would require a primitive version of metabolism to build and break down ketoacids, sugars, amino acids, and ribonucleotides in much the same way as the pathways that do it today. This review discusses metabolic pathways of relevance to the origin of life in a manner accessible to chemists, and summarizes experiments suggesting several pathways might have their roots in prebiotic chemistry. Finally, key remaining milestones for the protometabolic hypothesis are highlighted.

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Energetics of the First Life

Cited by 7 publications

References 200 publications

Aquatic Ferrous Solutions of Prebiotic Mineral Salts as Strong UV Protectants and Possible Loci of Life Origin

Aquatic Ferrous Solutions of Prebiotic Mineral Salts as Strong UV Protectants and Possible Loci of Life Origin

Exploring the Lipid World Hypothesis: A Novel Scenario of Self-Sustained Darwinian Evolution of the Liposomes

Nonenzymatic Metabolic Reactions and Life’s Origins

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