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Jiang HJ, Underwood TC, Bell JG, Lei J, Gonzales JC, Emge L, Tadese LG, Abd El-Rahman MK, Wilmouth DM, Brazaca LC, Ni G, Belding L, Dey S, Ashkarran AA, Nagarkar A, Nemitz MP, Cafferty BJ, Sayres DS, Ranjan S, Crocker DR, Anderson JG, Sasselov DD, Whitesides GM. Mimicking lightning-induced electrochemistry on the early Earth. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2024; 121:e2400819121. [PMID: 39074283 PMCID: PMC11317556 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2400819121] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/16/2024] [Accepted: 06/10/2024] [Indexed: 07/31/2024] Open
Abstract
To test the hypothesis that an abiotic Earth and its inert atmosphere could form chemically reactive carbon- and nitrogen-containing compounds, we designed a plasma electrochemical setup to mimic lightning-induced electrochemistry under steady-state conditions of the early Earth. Air-gap electrochemical reactions at air-water-ground interfaces lead to remarkable yields, with up to 40 moles of carbon dioxide being reduced into carbon monoxide and formic acid, and 3 moles of gaseous nitrogen being fixed into nitrate, nitrite, and ammonium ions, per mole of transmitted electrons. Interfaces enable reactants (e.g., minerals) that may have been on land, in lakes, and in oceans to participate in radical and redox reactions, leading to higher yields compared to gas-phase-only reactions. Cloud-to-ground lightning strikes could have generated high concentrations of reactive molecules locally, establishing diverse feedstocks for early life to emerge and survive globally.
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Affiliation(s)
- Haihui Joy Jiang
- Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA02138
- Department of Astronomy, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA02138
| | - Thomas C. Underwood
- Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA02138
- Department of Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX78705
| | - Jeffrey G. Bell
- Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA02138
| | - Jonathan Lei
- Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA02138
| | - Joe C. Gonzales
- Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA02138
| | - Lukas Emge
- Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA02138
| | - Leah G. Tadese
- Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA02138
| | | | - David M. Wilmouth
- Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA02138
- Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA02138
| | - Lais C. Brazaca
- Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA02138
| | - Gigi Ni
- Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA02138
| | - Lee Belding
- Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA02138
| | - Supriya Dey
- Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA02138
| | - Ali Akbar Ashkarran
- Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA02138
| | - Amit Nagarkar
- Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA02138
| | - Markus P. Nemitz
- Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA02138
| | - Brian J. Cafferty
- Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA02138
| | - David S. Sayres
- Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA02138
| | - Sukrit Ranjan
- Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ85721
- Department of Planetary Sciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ85721
| | - Daniel R. Crocker
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA02138
| | - James G. Anderson
- Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA02138
- Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA02138
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA02138
| | | | - George M. Whitesides
- Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA02138
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2
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Takahagi W, Okada S, Matsui Y, Ono S, Takai K, Takahashi Y, Kitadai N. Extreme accumulation of ammonia on electroreduced mackinawite: An abiotic ammonia storage mechanism in early ocean hydrothermal systems. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2023; 120:e2303302120. [PMID: 37782799 PMCID: PMC10576140 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2303302120] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/26/2023] [Accepted: 08/14/2023] [Indexed: 10/04/2023] Open
Abstract
An increasing amount of evidence suggests that early ocean hydrothermal systems were sustained sources of ammonia, an essential nitrogen species for prebiotic synthesis of life's building blocks. However, it remains a riddle how the abiotically generated ammonia was retained at the vent-ocean interface for the subsequent chemical evolution. Here, we demonstrate that, under simulated geoelectrochemical conditions in early ocean hydrothermal systems ([Formula: see text][Formula: see text] V versus the standard hydrogen electrode), mackinawite gradually reduces to zero-valent iron ([Formula: see text]), generating interlayer [Formula: see text] sites. This reductive conversion leads to an up to 55-fold increase in the solid/liquid partition coefficient for ammonia, enabling over 90% adsorption of 1 mM ammonia in 1 M NaCl at neutral pH. A coordinative binding of ammonia on the interlayer [Formula: see text] sites was computed to be the major mechanism of selective ammonia adsorption. Mackinawite is a ubiquitous sulfide precipitate in submarine hydrothermal systems. Given its reported catalytic function in amination, the extreme accumulation of ammonia on electroreduced mackinawite should have been a crucial initial step for prebiotic nitrogen assimilation, paving the way to the origin of life.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wataru Takahagi
- Department of Chemistry, Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo113-0033, Japan
- Institute for Extra-Cutting-Edge Science and Technology Avant-Garde Research, (X-star), Super-cutting-edge Grand and Advanced Research (SUGAR) Program, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC), Yokosuka237-0061, Japan
- Rensselaer Astrobiology Research and Education Center, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY12180
| | - Satoshi Okada
- Institute for Extra-Cutting-Edge Science and Technology Avant-Garde Research, (X-star), Super-cutting-edge Grand and Advanced Research (SUGAR) Program, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC), Yokosuka237-0061, Japan
| | - Yohei Matsui
- Research Institute for Global Change, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, Yokosuka237-0061, Japan
| | - Shigeaki Ono
- Research Institute for Marine Geodynamics, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, Yokosuka237-0061, Japan
| | - Ken Takai
- Institute for Extra-Cutting-Edge Science and Technology Avant-Garde Research, (X-star), Super-cutting-edge Grand and Advanced Research (SUGAR) Program, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC), Yokosuka237-0061, Japan
| | - Yoshio Takahashi
- Department of Earth and Planetary Science, Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo113-0033, Japan
| | - Norio Kitadai
- Institute for Extra-Cutting-Edge Science and Technology Avant-Garde Research, (X-star), Super-cutting-edge Grand and Advanced Research (SUGAR) Program, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC), Yokosuka237-0061, Japan
- Earth-Life Science Institute, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo152-8550, Japan
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3
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Spark of Life: Role of Electrotrophy in the Emergence of Life. Life (Basel) 2023; 13:life13020356. [PMID: 36836714 PMCID: PMC9961546 DOI: 10.3390/life13020356] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/29/2022] [Revised: 01/20/2023] [Accepted: 01/25/2023] [Indexed: 01/31/2023] Open
Abstract
The emergence of life has been a subject of intensive research for decades. Different approaches and different environmental "cradles" have been studied, from space to the deep sea. Since the recent discovery of a natural electrical current through deep-sea hydrothermal vents, a new energy source is considered for the transition from inorganic to organic. This energy source (electron donor) is used by modern microorganisms via a new trophic type, called electrotrophy. In this review, we draw a parallel between this metabolism and a new theory for the emergence of life based on this electrical electron flow. Each step of the creation of life is revised in the new light of this prebiotic electrochemical context, going from the evaluation of similar electrical current during the Hadean, the CO2 electroreduction into a prebiotic primordial soup, the production of proto-membranes, the energetic system inspired of the nitrate reduction, the proton gradient, and the transition to a planktonic proto-cell. Finally, this theory is compared to the two other theories in hydrothermal context to assess its relevance and overcome the limitations of each. Many critical factors that were limiting each theory can be overcome given the effect of electrochemical reactions and the environmental changes produced.
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4
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Patel VK, Busupalli B. Dissimilar chemobrionic growth in copper silicate chemical gardens in the absence or presence of light. Chem Commun (Camb) 2023; 59:768-771. [PMID: 36546324 DOI: 10.1039/d2cc06570c] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
The effect of the absence of light on chemical garden growth has been neglected although the gardens resemble hydrothermal vents that grow in dark in the sea/ocean. Herein, we report the differential growth of chemobrionic structures in copper silicate when identical reactions to yield copper silicate chemical gardens were carried out in the presence or absence of light. Irradiating the copper silicate chemical garden during its growth with different wavelengths of light independently resulted in morphologically divergent tubes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vipul Kirtikumar Patel
- Department of Chemistry, School of Energy Technology, Pandit Deendayal Energy University, Gandhinagar, Gujarat 382426, India.
| | - Balanagulu Busupalli
- Department of Chemistry, School of Energy Technology, Pandit Deendayal Energy University, Gandhinagar, Gujarat 382426, India.
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5
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In situ electrosynthetic bacterial growth using electricity generated by a deep-sea hydrothermal vent. THE ISME JOURNAL 2023; 17:12-20. [PMID: 36151459 PMCID: PMC9751133 DOI: 10.1038/s41396-022-01316-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/17/2022] [Revised: 08/28/2022] [Accepted: 09/01/2022] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Electroautotrophic microorganisms have attracted great attention since they exhibit a new type of primary production. Here, in situ electrochemical cultivation was conducted using the naturally occurring electromotive forces at a deep-sea hydrothermal vent. The voltage and current generation originating from the resulting microbial activity was observed for 12 days of deployment, with fluctuation in response to tidal cycles. A novel bacterium belonging to the genus Thiomicrorhabdus dominated the microbial community specifically enriched on the cathode. Metagenomic analysis provided the draft genome of the bacterium and the gene repertoire indicated that the bacterium has the potential for thio-autotrophic growth, which is a typical physiological feature of the members of the genus, while the bacterium had a unique gene cluster encoding multi-heme cytochrome c proteins responsible for extracellular electron transfer. Herein, we propose this bacterium as a new species, specifically enriched during electricity generation, as 'Candidatus Thiomicrorhabdus electrophagus'. This finding suggests the natural occurrence of electrosynthetic microbial populations using the geoelectricity in deep-sea hydrothermal environments.
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6
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Li Y, Kitadai N, Sekine Y, Kurokawa H, Nakano Y, Johnson-Finn K. Geoelectrochemistry-driven alteration of amino acids to derivative organics in carbonaceous chondrite parent bodies. Nat Commun 2022; 13:4893. [PMID: 35986003 PMCID: PMC9391434 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-32596-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/15/2021] [Accepted: 08/08/2022] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
A long-standing question regarding carbonaceous chondrites (CCs) is how the CCs’ organics were sourced and converted before and after the accretion of their parent bodies. Growing evidence shows that amino acid abundances in CCs decrease with an elongated aqueous alteration. However, the underlying chemical processes are unclear. If CCs’ parent bodies were water-rock differentiated, pH and redox gradients can drive electrochemical reactions by using H2 as an electron source. Here, we simulate such redox conditions and demonstrate that α-amino acids are electrochemically altered to monoamines and α-hydroxy acids on FeS and NiS catalysts at 25 °C. This conversion is consistent with their enrichment compared to amino acid analogs in heavily altered CCs. Our results thus suggest that H2 can be an important driver for organic evolution in water-rock differentiated CC parent bodies as well as the Solar System icy bodies that might possess similar pH and redox gradients. Researchers at Earth-Life Science Institute (ELSI) discovered a chemical process that can explain the very low amino acid abundances in aqueously altered carbonaceous chondrites, deepening our understanding on the Solar System chemical evolution.
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Pillot G, Amin Ali O, Davidson S, Shintu L, Combet-Blanc Y, Godfroy A, Bonin P, Liebgott PP. Evolution of Thermophilic Microbial Communities from a Deep-Sea Hydrothermal Chimney under Electrolithoautotrophic Conditions with Nitrate. Microorganisms 2021; 9:microorganisms9122475. [PMID: 34946077 PMCID: PMC8705573 DOI: 10.3390/microorganisms9122475] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/29/2021] [Revised: 11/26/2021] [Accepted: 11/26/2021] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Recent studies have shown the presence of an abiotic electrical current across the walls of deep-sea hydrothermal chimneys, allowing the growth of electroautotrophic microbial communities. To understand the role of the different phylogenetic groups and metabolisms involved, this study focused on electrotrophic enrichment with nitrate as electron acceptor. The biofilm density, community composition, production of organic compounds, and electrical consumption were monitored by FISH confocal microscopy, qPCR, metabarcoding, NMR, and potentiostat measurements. A statistical analysis by PCA showed the correlation between the different parameters (qPCR, organic compounds, and electron acceptors) in three distinct temporal phases. In our conditions, the Archaeoglobales have been shown to play a key role in the development of the community as the first colonizers on the cathode and the first producers of organic compounds, which are then used as an organic source by heterotrophs. Finally, through subcultures of the community, we showed the development of a greater biodiversity over time. This observed phenomenon could explain the biodiversity development in hydrothermal contexts, where energy sources are transient and unstable.
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Affiliation(s)
- Guillaume Pillot
- Aix Marseille Université, Université de Toulon, CNRS, IRD, MIO UM 110, 13288 Marseille, France; (G.P.); (O.A.A.); (S.D.); (Y.C.-B.); (P.B.)
| | - Oulfat Amin Ali
- Aix Marseille Université, Université de Toulon, CNRS, IRD, MIO UM 110, 13288 Marseille, France; (G.P.); (O.A.A.); (S.D.); (Y.C.-B.); (P.B.)
| | - Sylvain Davidson
- Aix Marseille Université, Université de Toulon, CNRS, IRD, MIO UM 110, 13288 Marseille, France; (G.P.); (O.A.A.); (S.D.); (Y.C.-B.); (P.B.)
| | - Laetitia Shintu
- Aix Marseille Université, CNRS Centrale Marseille, iSm2, 13284 Marseille, France;
| | - Yannick Combet-Blanc
- Aix Marseille Université, Université de Toulon, CNRS, IRD, MIO UM 110, 13288 Marseille, France; (G.P.); (O.A.A.); (S.D.); (Y.C.-B.); (P.B.)
| | - Anne Godfroy
- Laboratoire de Microbiologie des Environnements Extrêmes, Université de Bretagne Occidentale, CNRS, IFREMER, 29280 Plouzané, France;
| | - Patricia Bonin
- Aix Marseille Université, Université de Toulon, CNRS, IRD, MIO UM 110, 13288 Marseille, France; (G.P.); (O.A.A.); (S.D.); (Y.C.-B.); (P.B.)
| | - Pierre-Pol Liebgott
- Aix Marseille Université, Université de Toulon, CNRS, IRD, MIO UM 110, 13288 Marseille, France; (G.P.); (O.A.A.); (S.D.); (Y.C.-B.); (P.B.)
- Correspondence:
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8
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Pillot G, Amin Ali O, Davidson S, Shintu L, Godfroy A, Combet-Blanc Y, Bonin P, Liebgott PP. Identification of enriched hyperthermophilic microbial communities from a deep-sea hydrothermal vent chimney under electrolithoautotrophic culture conditions. Sci Rep 2021; 11:14782. [PMID: 34285254 PMCID: PMC8292307 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-94135-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/23/2021] [Accepted: 06/28/2021] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Deep-sea hydrothermal vents are extreme and complex ecosystems based on a trophic chain. We are still unsure of the identities of the first colonizers of these environments and their metabolism, but they are thought to be (hyper)thermophilic autotrophs. Here we investigate whether the electric potential observed across hydrothermal chimneys could serve as an energy source for these first colonizers. Experiments were performed in a two-chamber microbial electrochemical system inoculated with deep-sea hydrothermal chimney samples, with a cathode as sole electron donor, CO2 as sole carbon source, and nitrate, sulfate, or oxygen as electron acceptors. After a few days of culturing, all three experiments showed growth of electrotrophic biofilms consuming the electrons (directly or indirectly) and producing organic compounds including acetate, glycerol, and pyruvate. Within the biofilms, the only known autotroph species retrieved were members of Archaeoglobales. Various heterotrophic phyla also grew through trophic interactions, with Thermococcales growing in all three experiments as well as other bacterial groups specific to each electron acceptor. This electrotrophic metabolism as energy source driving initial microbial colonization of conductive hydrothermal chimneys is discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Guillaume Pillot
- Aix Marseille Université, Université de Toulon, IRD, CNRS, MIO UM 110, 13288, Marseille Cedex 09, France
| | - Oulfat Amin Ali
- Aix Marseille Université, Université de Toulon, IRD, CNRS, MIO UM 110, 13288, Marseille Cedex 09, France
| | - Sylvain Davidson
- Aix Marseille Université, Université de Toulon, IRD, CNRS, MIO UM 110, 13288, Marseille Cedex 09, France
| | - Laetitia Shintu
- Aix Marseille Univ, CNRS, Centrale Marseille, iSm2, Marseille, France
| | - Anne Godfroy
- IFREMER, CNRS, Université de Bretagne Occidentale, Laboratoire de Microbiologie des Environnements Extrêmes-UMR6197, Ifremer, Centre de Brest CS10070, Plouzané, France
| | - Yannick Combet-Blanc
- Aix Marseille Université, Université de Toulon, IRD, CNRS, MIO UM 110, 13288, Marseille Cedex 09, France
| | - Patricia Bonin
- Aix Marseille Université, Université de Toulon, IRD, CNRS, MIO UM 110, 13288, Marseille Cedex 09, France
| | - Pierre-Pol Liebgott
- Aix Marseille Université, Université de Toulon, IRD, CNRS, MIO UM 110, 13288, Marseille Cedex 09, France.
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9
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Chin K, Pasalic J, Hermis N, Barge LM. Chemical Gardens as Electrochemical Systems: In Situ Characterization of Simulated Prebiotic Hydrothermal Vents by Impedance Spectroscopy. Chempluschem 2021; 85:2619-2628. [PMID: 33270995 DOI: 10.1002/cplu.202000600] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/26/2020] [Revised: 11/17/2020] [Indexed: 11/05/2022]
Abstract
In an early earth or planetary chimney systems, hydrothermal fluid chemistry and flow durations play a large role in the chimney's ability to drive electrochemical reactions for the origin of life. We performed continuous electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) characterization on inorganic membranes representing prebiotic hydrothermal chimney vents in natural seafloor systems, by incorporating an electrode array into a chimney growth experiment. Localized potential and capacitances profiles in the chimney reveal a dynamic system where redox processes are driven by transport phenomena, increasing rapidly due to disequilibrium until achieving equilibrium at about 100 mV and 1000 μF/cm2 . The impedance in the chimney interior is three orders of magnitude lower (100 Ohms/cm2 vs 100 KOhms/cm2 ) than at the ocean or the ocean/chimney interface. The calculated peak dissipation factor (DF) values are more than ten times higher (40.0 vs 3.0) and also confirm the elevated chemical reactivity in the chimney interior.
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Affiliation(s)
- Keith Chin
- NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, CA, 91109, USA
| | - Jasmina Pasalic
- NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, CA, 91109, USA
| | - Ninos Hermis
- NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, CA, 91109, USA
| | - Laura M Barge
- NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, CA, 91109, USA
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10
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Russell MJ. The "Water Problem"( sic), the Illusory Pond and Life's Submarine Emergence-A Review. Life (Basel) 2021; 11:429. [PMID: 34068713 PMCID: PMC8151828 DOI: 10.3390/life11050429] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/14/2021] [Revised: 04/30/2021] [Accepted: 05/01/2021] [Indexed: 01/10/2023] Open
Abstract
The assumption that there was a "water problem" at the emergence of life-that the Hadean Ocean was simply too wet and salty for life to have emerged in it-is here subjected to geological and experimental reality checks. The "warm little pond" that would take the place of the submarine alkaline vent theory (AVT), as recently extolled in the journal Nature, flies in the face of decades of geological, microbiological and evolutionary research and reasoning. To the present author, the evidence refuting the warm little pond scheme is overwhelming given the facts that (i) the early Earth was a water world, (ii) its all-enveloping ocean was never less than 4 km deep, (iii) there were no figurative "Icelands" or "Hawaiis", nor even an "Ontong Java" then because (iv) the solidifying magma ocean beneath was still too mushy to support such salient loadings on the oceanic crust. In place of the supposed warm little pond, we offer a well-protected mineral mound precipitated at a submarine alkaline vent as life's womb: in place of lipid membranes, we suggest peptides; we replace poisonous cyanide with ammonium and hydrazine; instead of deleterious radiation we have the appropriate life-giving redox and pH disequilibria; and in place of messy chemistry we offer the potential for life's emergence from the simplest of geochemically available molecules and ions focused at a submarine alkaline vent in the Hadean-specifically within the nano-confined flexible and redox active interlayer walls of the mixed-valent double layer oxyhydroxide mineral, fougerite/green rust comprising much of that mound.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael J Russell
- Dipartimento di Chimica, Università degli Studi di Torino, via P. Giuria 7, 10125 Turin, Italy
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11
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Lee JE, Yamaguchi A, Ooka H, Kazami T, Miyauchi M, Kitadai N, Nakamura R. In situ FTIR study of CO 2 reduction on inorganic analogues of carbon monoxide dehydrogenase. Chem Commun (Camb) 2021; 57:3267-3270. [PMID: 33650585 DOI: 10.1039/d0cc07318k] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
The CO2-to-CO reduction by carbon monoxide dehydrogenase (CODH) with a [NiFe4S4] cluster is considered to be the oldest pathway of biological carbon fixation and therefore may have been involved in the origin of life. Although previous studies have investigated CO2 reduction by Fe and Ni sulfides to identify the prebiotic origin of the [NiFe4S4] cluster, the reaction mechanism remains largely elusive. Herein, we applied in situ electrochemical ATR-FTIR spectroscopy to probe the reaction intermediates of greigite (Fe3S4) and violarite (FeNi2S4). Intermediate species assignable to surface-bound CO2 and formyl groups were found to be stabilized in the presence of Ni, lending insight into its role in enhancing the multistep CO2 reduction process.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ji-Eun Lee
- Biofunctional Catalyst Research Team, RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science, 2-1 Hirosawa, Wako, Saitama 351-0198, Japan.
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12
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Kitadai N, Nakamura R, Yamamoto M, Okada S, Takahagi W, Nakano Y, Takahashi Y, Takai K, Oono Y. Thioester synthesis through geoelectrochemical CO 2 fixation on Ni sulfides. Commun Chem 2021; 4:37. [PMID: 36697522 PMCID: PMC9814748 DOI: 10.1038/s42004-021-00475-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/26/2020] [Accepted: 02/18/2021] [Indexed: 01/31/2023] Open
Abstract
A 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.
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Affiliation(s)
- Norio Kitadai
- grid.410588.00000 0001 2191 0132Super-cutting-edge Grand and Advanced Research (SUGAR) Program, Institute for Extra-cutting-edge Science and Technology Avant-garde Research (X-star), Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC), Yokosuka, Japan ,grid.32197.3e0000 0001 2179 2105Earth-Life Science Institute, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Meguroku, Tokyo Japan
| | - Ryuhei Nakamura
- grid.32197.3e0000 0001 2179 2105Earth-Life Science Institute, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Meguroku, Tokyo Japan ,grid.7597.c0000000094465255Biofunctional Catalyst Research Team, RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science, Wako, Saitama Japan
| | - Masahiro Yamamoto
- grid.410588.00000 0001 2191 0132Super-cutting-edge Grand and Advanced Research (SUGAR) Program, Institute for Extra-cutting-edge Science and Technology Avant-garde Research (X-star), Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC), Yokosuka, Japan
| | - Satoshi Okada
- grid.410588.00000 0001 2191 0132Super-cutting-edge Grand and Advanced Research (SUGAR) Program, Institute for Extra-cutting-edge Science and Technology Avant-garde Research (X-star), Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC), Yokosuka, Japan
| | - Wataru Takahagi
- grid.410588.00000 0001 2191 0132Super-cutting-edge Grand and Advanced Research (SUGAR) Program, Institute for Extra-cutting-edge Science and Technology Avant-garde Research (X-star), Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC), Yokosuka, Japan ,grid.26999.3d0000 0001 2151 536XDepartment of Chemistry, Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo Japan
| | - Yuko Nakano
- grid.32197.3e0000 0001 2179 2105Earth-Life Science Institute, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Meguroku, Tokyo Japan
| | - Yoshio Takahashi
- grid.26999.3d0000 0001 2151 536XDepartment of Earth and Planetary Science, Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo Japan
| | - Ken Takai
- grid.410588.00000 0001 2191 0132Super-cutting-edge Grand and Advanced Research (SUGAR) Program, Institute for Extra-cutting-edge Science and Technology Avant-garde Research (X-star), Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC), Yokosuka, Japan
| | - Yoshi Oono
- grid.35403.310000 0004 1936 9991Department of Physics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL USA
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13
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Aulenta F, Tucci M, Cruz Viggi C, Dolfing J, Head IM, Rotaru A. An underappreciated DIET for anaerobic petroleum hydrocarbon-degrading microbial communities. Microb Biotechnol 2021; 14:2-7. [PMID: 32864850 PMCID: PMC7888475 DOI: 10.1111/1751-7915.13654] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/28/2020] [Accepted: 08/01/2020] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Direct interspecies electron transfer (DIET) via electrically conductive minerals can play a role in the anaerobic oxidation of petroleum hydrocarbons in contaminated sites and can be exploited for the development of new, more effective bioremediation approaches.
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Affiliation(s)
- Federico Aulenta
- Water Research Institute (IRSA)National Research Council (CNR)MonterotondoRMItaly
| | - Matteo Tucci
- Water Research Institute (IRSA)National Research Council (CNR)MonterotondoRMItaly
| | - Carolina Cruz Viggi
- Water Research Institute (IRSA)National Research Council (CNR)MonterotondoRMItaly
| | - Jan Dolfing
- School of EngineeringNewcastle UniversityNewcastle upon TyneUK
| | - Ian M. Head
- School of Natural and Environmental SciencesNewcastle UniversityNewcastle upon TyneUK
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14
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Jones JP, Firdosy SA, Barge LM, Bescup JC, Perl SM, Zhang X, Pate AM, Price RE. 3D Printed Minerals as Astrobiology Analogs of Hydrothermal Vent Chimneys. ASTROBIOLOGY 2020; 20:1405-1412. [PMID: 32924535 DOI: 10.1089/ast.2020.2260] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
Hydrothermal vents, which are highly plausible habitable environments for life and of interest for some origin-of-life scenarios, may exist on icy moons such as Europa or Enceladus in addition to Earth. Some hydrothermal vent chimney structures are extremely porous and friable, making their reconstruction in the lab challenging (e.g., brucite or saponite in alkaline hydrothermal settings). Here, we present the results from our efforts to reconstruct a simplified chimney structure directly out of mineral powder using binder jet additive manufacturing. Olivine sand was chosen for this initial method development effort since it represents a naturally occurring seafloor material and is inexpensively available in large quantities in powder form. The crystal structure of olivine used for the print was not modified during the process, as confirmed by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD). To characterize the microstructure of our 3D printed precipitates, we used computed tomography (CT) X-ray scan techniques. We also evaluated a chimney precipitate from a sample collected from the Prony Hydrothermal Field (PHF), southern New Caledonia, an alkaline system driven by serpentinization with mineralogy composed of brucite and carbonates. While not directly comparable from a mineralogical point of view, the microstructure and porosity of both precipitates was similar, suggesting that our 3D printing technique may be a valuable tool for future astrobiology research on hydrothermal vent precipitates.
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Affiliation(s)
- John-Paul Jones
- NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA
| | - Samad A Firdosy
- NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA
| | - Laura M Barge
- NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA
| | - John C Bescup
- NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA
| | - Scott M Perl
- NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA
| | - Xu Zhang
- College of Engineering Center for Design and Manufacturing Excellence, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, USA
| | - Andre M Pate
- NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA
| | - Roy E Price
- School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York, USA
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15
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Altair T, Sartori LM, Rodrigues F, de Avellar MGB, Galante D. Natural Radioactive Environments as Sources of Local Disequilibrium for the Emergence of Life. ASTROBIOLOGY 2020; 20:1489-1497. [PMID: 32907342 DOI: 10.1089/ast.2019.2133] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
Certain subterranean environments of Earth have naturally accumulated long-lived radionuclides, such as 238U, 232Th, and 40K, near the presence of liquid water. In these natural radioactive environments, water radiolysis can produce chemical species of biological importance, such as H2. Although the proposal of radioactive decay as an alternative source of energy for living systems has existed for >30 years, this hypothesis gained strength after the recent discovery of a peculiar ecosystem in a gold mine in South Africa, whose existence is dependent on chemical species produced by water radiolysis. In this study, we calculate the chemical disequilibrium generated locally by water radiolysis due to gamma radiation. We then analyze the possible contribution of this disequilibrium for the emergence of life, considering conditions of early Earth and having as reference the alkaline hydrothermal vent theory. Results from our kinetic model point out the similarities between the conditions caused by water radiolysis and those found on alkaline hydrothermal systems. Our model produces a steady increase of pH with time, which favors the formation of a natural electrochemical gradient and the precipitation of minerals with catalytic activity for protometabolism in this aqueous environment. We conclude by describing a possible free-energy conversion mechanism based on protometabolism, which could be a requisite for the emergence of life in Hadean Earth.
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Affiliation(s)
- Thiago Altair
- Brazilian Synchrotron Light Laboratory (LNLS), Brazilian Center for Research in Energy and Materials (CNPEM), Campinas, Brazil
- Instituto de Física de São Carlos, Universidade de São Paulo, São Carlos, Brazil
| | - Larissa M Sartori
- Instituto de Matemática e Estatística, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Fabio Rodrigues
- Departamento de Química Fundamental Instituto de Química, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Marcio G B de Avellar
- Instituto de Ciências Ambientais, Químicas e Farmacêuticas, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Diadema, Brazil
| | - Douglas Galante
- Brazilian Synchrotron Light Laboratory (LNLS), Brazilian Center for Research in Energy and Materials (CNPEM), Campinas, Brazil
- Instituto de Física de São Carlos, Universidade de São Paulo, São Carlos, Brazil
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16
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Fluctuation Effects of Magnetohydrodynamic Micro-Vortices on Odd Chirality in Magnetoelectrolysis. MAGNETOCHEMISTRY 2020. [DOI: 10.3390/magnetochemistry6030043] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
The magnetic field dependence of chiral surface formation was investigated in magnetoelectrodeposition (MED) and magnetoelectrochemical etching (MEE) of copper films. The MED and MEE was conducted in magnetic fields of up to 5 T, which were parallel or antiparallel to the ionic currents. The MED films prepared in high magnetic fields of 5 and 3 T exhibited odd chirality for magnetic field polarity, as expected on the basis of the magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) vortex model. However, the films prepared in the lower fields of 2.5 and 2 T exhibited breaking of odd chirality. Similar magnetic field dependence was observed in the surface chirality of MEE films. These results imply that the fluctuation in the self-organized state of micro-MHD vortices is responsible for the breaking of odd chirality.
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17
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Pillot G, Davidson S, Auria R, Combet-Blanc Y, Godfroy A, Liebgott PP. Production of Current by Syntrophy Between Exoelectrogenic and Fermentative Hyperthermophilic Microorganisms in Heterotrophic Biofilm from a Deep-Sea Hydrothermal Chimney. MICROBIAL ECOLOGY 2020; 79:38-49. [PMID: 31079197 DOI: 10.1007/s00248-019-01381-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/23/2018] [Accepted: 04/12/2019] [Indexed: 06/09/2023]
Abstract
To study the role of exoelectrogens within the trophic network of deep-sea hydrothermal vents, we performed successive subcultures of a hyperthermophilic community from a hydrothermal chimney sample on a mix of electron donors in a microbial fuel cell system. Electrode (the electron acceptor) was swapped every week to enable fresh development from spent media as inoculum. The MFC at 80 °C yielded maximum current production increasing from 159 to 247 mA m-2 over the subcultures. The experiments demonstrated direct production of electric current from acetate, pyruvate, and H2 and indirect production from yeast extract and peptone through the production of H2 and acetate from fermentation. The microorganisms found in on-electrode communities were mainly affiliated to exoelectrogenic Archaeoglobales and Thermococcales species, whereas in liquid media, the communities were mainly affiliated to fermentative Bacillales and Thermococcales species. The work shows interactions between fermentative microorganisms degrading complex organic matter into fermentation products that are then used by exoelectrogenic microorganisms oxidizing these reduced compounds while respiring on a conductive support. The results confirmed that with carbon cycling, the syntrophic relations between fermentative microorganisms and exoelectrogens could enable some microbes to survive as biofilm in extremely unstable conditions. Graphical Abstract Schematic representation of cross-feeding between fermentative and exoelectrogenic microbes on the surface of the conductive support. B, Bacillus/Geobacillus spp.; Tc, Thermococcales; Gg, Geoglobus spp.; Py, pyruvate; Ac, acetate.
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Affiliation(s)
- Guillaume Pillot
- Aix-Marseille Université, IRD, CNRS, MIO, UM110, Marseille, France
- Université du Sud Toulon-Var, IRD, CNRS, MIO, UM 110, La Garde, France
| | - Sylvain Davidson
- Aix-Marseille Université, IRD, CNRS, MIO, UM110, Marseille, France
- Université du Sud Toulon-Var, IRD, CNRS, MIO, UM 110, La Garde, France
| | - Richard Auria
- Aix-Marseille Université, IRD, CNRS, MIO, UM110, Marseille, France
- Université du Sud Toulon-Var, IRD, CNRS, MIO, UM 110, La Garde, France
| | - Yannick Combet-Blanc
- Aix-Marseille Université, IRD, CNRS, MIO, UM110, Marseille, France
- Université du Sud Toulon-Var, IRD, CNRS, MIO, UM 110, La Garde, France
| | - Anne Godfroy
- IFREMER, CNRS, Laboratoire de Microbiologie des Environnements Extrêmes - UMR6197, Ifremer, Université de Bretagne Occidentale, Centre de Brest, CS10070, Plouzané, France
| | - Pierre-Pol Liebgott
- Aix-Marseille Université, IRD, CNRS, MIO, UM110, Marseille, France.
- Université du Sud Toulon-Var, IRD, CNRS, MIO, UM 110, La Garde, France.
- Campus de Luminy, Bâtiment OCEANOMED, Mediterranean Institute of Oceanography, 13288, Marseille Cedex 09, France.
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18
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Kitadai N, Nakamura R, Yamamoto M, Takai K, Yoshida N, Oono Y. Metals likely promoted protometabolism in early ocean alkaline hydrothermal systems. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2019; 5:eaav7848. [PMID: 31223650 PMCID: PMC6584212 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aav7848] [Citation(s) in RCA: 40] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/20/2018] [Accepted: 05/15/2019] [Indexed: 06/01/2023]
Abstract
One of the most plausible scenarios of the origin of life assumes the preceding prebiotic autotrophic metabolism in sulfide-rich hydrothermal vent environments. However, geochemical mechanisms to harness the reductive power provided by hydrothermal systems remain to be elucidated. Here, we show that, under a geoelectrochemical condition realizable in the early ocean hydrothermal systems, several metal sulfides (FeS, Ag2S, CuS, and PbS) undergo hour- to day-scale conversion to the corresponding metals at ≤-0.7 V (versus the standard hydrogen electrode). The electrochemically produced FeS-Fe0 assemblage promoted various reactions including certain steps in the reductive tricarboxylic acid cycle with efficiencies far superior to those due to pure FeS. The threshold potential is readily generated in the H2-rich alkaline hydrothermal systems that were probably ubiquitous on the Hadean seafloor. Thus, widespread metal production and metal-sustained primordial metabolism were likely to occur as a natural consequence of the active hydrothermal processes on the Hadean Earth.
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Affiliation(s)
- Norio Kitadai
- Super-cutting-edge Grand and Advanced Research (SUGAR) Program, Institute for Extra-cutting-edge Science and Technology Avant-garde Research (X-star), Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC), 2-15 Natsushima-cho, Yokosuka 237-0061, Japan
- Earth-Life Science Institute, Tokyo Institute of Technology, 2-12-1 Ookayama, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 152-8550, Japan
| | - Ryuhei Nakamura
- Earth-Life Science Institute, Tokyo Institute of Technology, 2-12-1 Ookayama, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 152-8550, Japan
- Biofunctional Catalyst Research Team, RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science, 2-1 Hirosawa, Wako, Saitama 351-0198, Japan
| | - Masahiro Yamamoto
- Super-cutting-edge Grand and Advanced Research (SUGAR) Program, Institute for Extra-cutting-edge Science and Technology Avant-garde Research (X-star), Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC), 2-15 Natsushima-cho, Yokosuka 237-0061, Japan
| | - Ken Takai
- Super-cutting-edge Grand and Advanced Research (SUGAR) Program, Institute for Extra-cutting-edge Science and Technology Avant-garde Research (X-star), Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC), 2-15 Natsushima-cho, Yokosuka 237-0061, Japan
- Earth-Life Science Institute, Tokyo Institute of Technology, 2-12-1 Ookayama, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 152-8550, Japan
| | - Naohiro Yoshida
- Earth-Life Science Institute, Tokyo Institute of Technology, 2-12-1 Ookayama, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 152-8550, Japan
- Department of Environmental Chemistry and Engineering, Tokyo Institute of Technology, 4259 Nagatsuta, Midori-ku, Yokohama, Kanazawa 226-8503, Japan
| | - Yoshi Oono
- Department of Physics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1110 W. Green Street, Urbana, IL 61801-3080, USA
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19
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Cafferty BJ, Yuan L, Baghbanzadeh M, Rappoport D, Beyzavi MH, Whitesides GM. Charge Transport through Self‐Assembled Monolayers of Monoterpenoids. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl 2019. [DOI: 10.1002/ange.201902997] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Brian J. Cafferty
- Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology Harvard University 12 Oxford Street Cambridge MA 02138 USA
| | - Li Yuan
- Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology Harvard University 12 Oxford Street Cambridge MA 02138 USA
| | - Mostafa Baghbanzadeh
- Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology Harvard University 12 Oxford Street Cambridge MA 02138 USA
| | - Dmitrij Rappoport
- Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology Harvard University 12 Oxford Street Cambridge MA 02138 USA
| | - M. Hassan Beyzavi
- Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology Harvard University 12 Oxford Street Cambridge MA 02138 USA
- Current address: Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry University of Arkansas Fayetteville AR 72701 USA
| | - George M. Whitesides
- Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology Harvard University 12 Oxford Street Cambridge MA 02138 USA
- Kalvi Institute for Bionano Science and Technology Harvard University 29 Oxford Street Cambridge MA 02138 USA
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering Harvard University 60 Oxford Street Cambridge MA 02138 USA
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20
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Cafferty BJ, Yuan L, Baghbanzadeh M, Rappoport D, Beyzavi MH, Whitesides GM. Charge Transport through Self-Assembled Monolayers of Monoterpenoids. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl 2019; 58:8097-8102. [PMID: 30989746 DOI: 10.1002/anie.201902997] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/10/2019] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
The nature of the processes at the origin of life that selected specific classes of molecules for broad incorporation into cells is controversial. Among those classes selected were polyisoprenoids and their derivatives. This paper tests the hypothesis that polyisoprenoids were early contributors to membranes in part because they (or their derivatives) could facilitate charge transport by quantum tunneling. It measures charge transport across self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) of carboxyl-terminated monoterpenoids (O2 C(C9 HX)) and alkanoates (O2 C(C7 HX)) with different degrees of unsaturation, supported on silver (AgTS ) bottom electrodes, with Ga2 O3 /EGaIn top electrodes. Measurements of current density of SAMs of linear length-matched hydrocarbons-both saturated and unsaturated-show that completely unsaturated molecules transport charge faster than those that are completely saturated by approximately a factor of ten. This increase in relative rates of charge transport correlates with the number of carbon-carbon double bonds, but not with the extent of conjugation. These results suggest that polyisoprenoids-even fully unsaturated-are not sufficiently good tunneling conductors for their conductivity to have favored them as building blocks in the prebiotic world.
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Affiliation(s)
- Brian J Cafferty
- Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard University, 12 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA
| | - Li Yuan
- Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard University, 12 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA
| | - Mostafa Baghbanzadeh
- Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard University, 12 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA
| | - Dmitrij Rappoport
- Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard University, 12 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA
| | - M Hassan Beyzavi
- Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard University, 12 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA.,Current address: Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR, 72701, USA
| | - George M Whitesides
- Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard University, 12 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA.,Kalvi Institute for Bionano Science and Technology, Harvard University, 29 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA.,Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, 60 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA
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21
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Vance SD, Barge LM, Cardoso SSS, Cartwright JHE. Self-Assembling Ice Membranes on Europa: Brinicle Properties, Field Examples, and Possible Energetic Systems in Icy Ocean Worlds. ASTROBIOLOGY 2019; 19:685-695. [PMID: 30964322 DOI: 10.1089/ast.2018.1826] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/09/2023]
Abstract
Brinicles are self-assembling tubular ice membrane structures, centimeters to meters in length, found beneath sea ice in the polar regions of Earth. We discuss how the properties of brinicles make them of possible importance for chemistry in cold environments-including that of life's emergence-and we consider their formation in icy ocean worlds. We argue that the non-ice composition of the ice on Europa and Enceladus will vary spatially due to thermodynamic and mechanical properties that serve to separate and fractionate brines and solid materials. The specifics of the composition and dynamics of both the ice and the ocean in these worlds remain poorly constrained. We demonstrate through calculations using FREZCHEM that sulfate likely fractionates out of accreting ice in Europa and Enceladus, and thus that an exogenous origin of sulfate observed on Europa's surface need not preclude additional endogenous sulfate in Europa's ocean. We suggest that, like hydrothermal vents on Earth, brinicles in icy ocean worlds constitute ideal places where ecosystems of organisms might be found.
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Affiliation(s)
- Steven D Vance
- 1 NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA
| | - Laura M Barge
- 1 NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA
| | - Silvana S S Cardoso
- 2 Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - Julyan H E Cartwright
- 3 Instituto Andaluz de Ciencias de la Tierra, CSIC-Universidad de Granada, Granada, Spain
- 4 Instituto Carlos I de Física Teórica y Computacional, Universidad de Granada, Granada, Spain
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22
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Ooka H, McGlynn SE, Nakamura R. Electrochemistry at Deep‐Sea Hydrothermal Vents: Utilization of the Thermodynamic Driving Force towards the Autotrophic Origin of Life. ChemElectroChem 2019. [DOI: 10.1002/celc.201801432] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Hideshi Ooka
- Biofunctional Catalyst Research TeamRIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science (CSRS) 2-1, Hirosawa, Wako Saitama 351-0198 Japan
| | - Shawn E. McGlynn
- Biofunctional Catalyst Research TeamRIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science (CSRS) 2-1, Hirosawa, Wako Saitama 351-0198 Japan
- Earth-Life Science Institute (ELSI)Tokyo Institute of Technology 2-12-1-1E-1 Ookayama, Meguro-ku Tokyo 152-8550 Japan
- Blue Marble Space Institute of Science Seattle, WA USA
| | - Ryuhei Nakamura
- Biofunctional Catalyst Research TeamRIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science (CSRS) 2-1, Hirosawa, Wako Saitama 351-0198 Japan
- Earth-Life Science Institute (ELSI)Tokyo Institute of Technology 2-12-1-1E-1 Ookayama, Meguro-ku Tokyo 152-8550 Japan
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23
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The Paleomineralogy of the Hadean Eon Revisited. Life (Basel) 2018; 8:life8040064. [PMID: 30562935 PMCID: PMC6315770 DOI: 10.3390/life8040064] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/31/2018] [Revised: 12/03/2018] [Accepted: 12/07/2018] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
A preliminary list of plausible near-surface minerals present during Earth’s Hadean Eon (>4.0 Ga) should be expanded to include: (1) phases that might have formed by precipitation of organic crystals prior to the rise of predation by cellular life; (2) minerals associated with large bolide impacts, especially through the generation of hydrothermal systems in circumferential fracture zones; and (3) local formation of minerals with relatively oxidized transition metals through abiological redox processes, such as photo-oxidation. Additional mineral diversity arises from the occurrence of some mineral species that form more than one ‘natural kind’, each with distinct chemical and morphological characteristics that arise by different paragenetic processes. Rare minerals, for example those containing essential B, Mo, or P, are not necessary for the origins of life. Rather, many common minerals incorporate those and other elements as trace and minor constituents. A rich variety of chemically reactive sites were thus available at the exposed surfaces of common Hadean rock-forming minerals.
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24
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Nakashima S, Kebukawa Y, Kitadai N, Igisu M, Matsuoka N. Geochemistry and the Origin of Life: From Extraterrestrial Processes, Chemical Evolution on Earth, Fossilized Life's Records, to Natures of the Extant Life. Life (Basel) 2018; 8:E39. [PMID: 30241342 PMCID: PMC6315873 DOI: 10.3390/life8040039] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/10/2018] [Revised: 09/15/2018] [Accepted: 09/17/2018] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
In 2001, the first author (S.N.) led the publication of a book entitled "Geochemistry and the origin of life" in collaboration with Dr. Andre Brack aiming to figure out geo- and astro-chemical processes essential for the emergence of life. Since then, a great number of research progress has been achieved in the relevant topics from our group and others, ranging from the extraterrestrial inputs of life's building blocks, the chemical evolution on Earth with the aid of mineral catalysts, to the fossilized records of ancient microorganisms. Here, in addition to summarizing these findings for the origin and early evolution of life, we propose a new hypothesis for the generation and co-evolution of photosynthesis with the redox and photochemical conditions on the Earth's surface. Besides these bottom-up approaches, we introduce an experimental study on the role of water molecules in the life's function, focusing on the transition from live, dormant, and dead states through dehydration/hydration. Further spectroscopic studies on the hydrogen bonding behaviors of water molecules in living cells will provide important clues to solve the complex nature of life.
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Affiliation(s)
- Satoru Nakashima
- Department of Earth and Space Science, Osaka University, Toyonaka, Osaka 560-0043, Japan.
- Undergraduate School of Physics, Osaka University, Toyonaka, Osaka 560-0043, Japan.
| | - Yoko Kebukawa
- Department of Earth and Space Science, Osaka University, Toyonaka, Osaka 560-0043, Japan.
- Faculty of Engineering, Yokohama National University, 79-5 Tokiwadai, Hodogaya-ku, Yokohama 240-8501, Japan.
| | - Norio Kitadai
- Earth-Life Science Institute, Tokyo Institute of Technology, 2-12-1, Ookayama, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 152-8550, Japan.
| | - Motoko Igisu
- Department of Subsurface Geobiological Analysis and Research, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC), Kanagawa 237-0061, Japan.
| | - Natsuki Matsuoka
- Undergraduate School of Physics, Osaka University, Toyonaka, Osaka 560-0043, Japan.
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25
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Barge LM, Krause FC, Jones JP, Billings K, Sobron P. Geoelectrodes and Fuel Cells for Simulating Hydrothermal Vent Environments. ASTROBIOLOGY 2018; 18:1147-1158. [PMID: 30106308 DOI: 10.1089/ast.2017.1707] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/22/2023]
Abstract
Gradients generated in hydrothermal systems provide a significant source of free energy for chemosynthetic life and may play a role in present-day habitability on ocean worlds. Electron/proton/ion gradients, particularly in the context of hydrothermal chimney structures, may also be relevant to the origins of life on Earth. Hydrothermal vents are similar in some ways to typical fuel cell devices: redox/pH gradients between seawater and hydrothermal fluid are analogous to the fuel cell oxidant and fuel reservoirs; the porous chimney wall is analogous to a separator or ion-exchange membrane and is also a conductive path for electrons; and the hydrothermal minerals are analogous to electrode catalysts. The modular and scalable characteristics of fuel cell systems make for a convenient planetary geology test bed in which geologically relevant components may be assembled and investigated in a controlled simulation environment. We have performed fuel cell experiments and electrochemical studies to better understand the catalytic potential of seafloor minerals and vent chimneys, using samples from a black smoker vent chimney as an initial demonstration. In a fuel cell with Na+-conducting Nafion® membranes and liquid fuel/oxidant reservoirs (simulating the vent environment), the black smoker mineral catalyst in the membrane electrode assembly was effective in reducing O2 and oxidizing sulfide. In a H2/O2 polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cell with H+-conducting Nafion membranes, the black smoker catalyst was effective in reducing O2 but not in oxidizing H2. These fuel cell experiments accurately simulated the redox reactions that could occur in a geological setting with this particular catalyst, and also tested whether the minerals are sufficiently active to replace a commercial fuel cell catalyst. Similar experiments with other geocatalysts could be utilized to test which redox reactions could be driven in other hydrothermal systems, including hypothesized vent systems on other worlds.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laura M Barge
- 1 NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology , Pasadena, California
| | - Frederick C Krause
- 1 NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology , Pasadena, California
| | - John-Paul Jones
- 1 NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology , Pasadena, California
| | - Keith Billings
- 1 NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology , Pasadena, California
| | - Pablo Sobron
- 2 Carl Sagan Center, SETI Institute , Mountain View, California
- 3 Impossible Sensing , St. Louis, Missouri
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Russell MJ. Green Rust: The Simple Organizing 'Seed' of All Life? Life (Basel) 2018; 8:E35. [PMID: 30150570 PMCID: PMC6161180 DOI: 10.3390/life8030035] [Citation(s) in RCA: 42] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/06/2018] [Revised: 06/28/2018] [Accepted: 08/14/2018] [Indexed: 01/18/2023] Open
Abstract
Korenaga and coworkers presented evidence to suggest that the Earth's mantle was dry and water filled the ocean to twice its present volume 4.3 billion years ago. Carbon dioxide was constantly exhaled during the mafic to ultramafic volcanic activity associated with magmatic plumes that produced the thick, dense, and relatively stable oceanic crust. In that setting, two distinct and major types of sub-marine hydrothermal vents were active: ~400 °C acidic springs, whose effluents bore vast quantities of iron into the ocean, and ~120 °C, highly alkaline, and reduced vents exhaling from the cooler, serpentinizing crust some distance from the heads of the plumes. When encountering the alkaline effluents, the iron from the plume head vents precipitated out, forming mounds likely surrounded by voluminous exhalative deposits similar to the banded iron formations known from the Archean. These mounds and the surrounding sediments, comprised micro or nano-crysts of the variable valence FeII/FeIII oxyhydroxide known as green rust. The precipitation of green rust, along with subsidiary iron sulfides and minor concentrations of nickel, cobalt, and molybdenum in the environment at the alkaline springs, may have established both the key bio-syntonic disequilibria and the means to properly make use of them-the elements needed to effect the essential inanimate-to-animate transitions that launched life. Specifically, in the submarine alkaline vent model for the emergence of life, it is first suggested that the redox-flexible green rust micro- and nano-crysts spontaneously precipitated to form barriers to the complete mixing of carbonic ocean and alkaline hydrothermal fluids. These barriers created and maintained steep ionic disequilibria. Second, the hydrous interlayers of green rust acted as engines that were powered by those ionic disequilibria and drove essential endergonic reactions. There, aided by sulfides and trace elements acting as catalytic promoters and electron transfer agents, nitrate could be reduced to ammonia and carbon dioxide to formate, while methane may have been oxidized to methyl and formyl groups. Acetate and higher carboxylic acids could then have been produced from these C1 molecules and aminated to amino acids, and thence oligomerized to offer peptide nests to phosphate and iron sulfides, and secreted to form primitive amyloid-bounded structures, leading conceivably to protocells.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael J Russell
- Planetary Chemistry and Astrobiology, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91109-8099, USA.
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Branscomb E, Russell MJ. Frankenstein or a Submarine Alkaline Vent: Who is Responsible for Abiogenesis? Bioessays 2018; 40:e1700182. [DOI: 10.1002/bies.201700182] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/28/2018] [Revised: 04/26/2018] [Indexed: 12/18/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Elbert Branscomb
- Department of Physics; Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology; University of Illinois; Urbana IL 61801 USA
| | - Michael J. Russell
- Planetary Chemistry and Astrobiology; Sec. 3225 MS:183-301; Jet Propulsion Laboratory; California Institute of Technology; Pasadena CA 91109-8099 USA
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28
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Pillot G, Frouin E, Pasero E, Godfroy A, Combet-Blanc Y, Davidson S, Liebgott PP. Specific enrichment of hyperthermophilic electroactive Archaea from deep-sea hydrothermal vent on electrically conductive support. BIORESOURCE TECHNOLOGY 2018; 259:304-311. [PMID: 29573609 DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2018.03.053] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/08/2018] [Revised: 03/09/2018] [Accepted: 03/10/2018] [Indexed: 06/08/2023]
Abstract
While more and more investigations are done to study hyperthermophilic exoelectrogenic communities from environments, none have been performed yet on deep-sea hydrothermal vent. Samples of black smoker chimney from Rainbow site on the Atlantic mid-oceanic ridge have been harvested for enriching exoelectrogens in microbial electrolysis cells under hyperthermophilic (80 °C) condition. Two enrichments were performed in a BioElectrochemical System specially designed: one from direct inoculation of crushed chimney and the other one from inoculation of a pre-cultivation on iron (III) oxide. In both experiments, a current production was observed from 2.4 A/m2 to 5.8 A/m2 with a set anode potential of -0.110 V vs Ag/AgCl. Taxonomic affiliation of the exoelectrogen communities obtained on the electrode exhibited a specific enrichment of Archaea belonging to Thermococcales and Archeoglobales orders, even when both inocula were dominated by Bacteria.
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Affiliation(s)
- Guillaume Pillot
- Aix Marseille Université, IRD, Université de Toulon, CNRS, MIO UM 110, Marseille, France
| | - Eléonore Frouin
- Aix Marseille Université, IRD, Université de Toulon, CNRS, MIO UM 110, Marseille, France
| | - Emilie Pasero
- Aix Marseille Université, IRD, Université de Toulon, CNRS, MIO UM 110, Marseille, France
| | - Anne Godfroy
- IFREMER, CNRS, Université de Bretagne Occidentale, Laboratoire de Microbiologie des Environnements Extrêmes - UMR6197, Ifremer, Centre de Brest CS10070, Plouzané, France
| | - Yannick Combet-Blanc
- Aix Marseille Université, IRD, Université de Toulon, CNRS, MIO UM 110, Marseille, France
| | - Sylvain Davidson
- Aix Marseille Université, IRD, Université de Toulon, CNRS, MIO UM 110, Marseille, France
| | - Pierre-Pol Liebgott
- Aix Marseille Université, IRD, Université de Toulon, CNRS, MIO UM 110, Marseille, France.
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29
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Kato S, Igarashi K. Enhancement of methanogenesis by electric syntrophy with biogenic iron-sulfide minerals. Microbiologyopen 2018; 8:e00647. [PMID: 29877051 PMCID: PMC6436484 DOI: 10.1002/mbo3.647] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/18/2017] [Revised: 02/13/2018] [Accepted: 04/05/2018] [Indexed: 01/29/2023] Open
Abstract
Recent studies have shown that interspecies electron transfer between chemoheterotrophic bacteria and methanogenic archaea can be mediated by electric currents flowing through conductive iron oxides, a process termed electric syntrophy. In this study, we conducted enrichment experiments with methanogenic microbial communities from rice paddy soil in the presence of ferrihydrite and/or sulfate to determine whether electric syntrophy could be enabled by biogenic iron sulfides. Although supplementation with either ferrihydrite or sulfate alone suppressed methanogenesis, supplementation with both ferrihydrite and sulfate enhanced methanogenesis. In the presence of sulfate, ferrihydrite was transformed into black precipitates consisting mainly of poorly crystalline iron sulfides. Microbial community analysis revealed that a methanogenic archaeon and iron- and sulfate-reducing bacteria (Methanosarcina, Geobacter, and Desulfotomaculum, respectively) predominated in the enrichment culture supplemented with both ferrihydrite and sulfate. Addition of an inhibitor specific for methanogenic archaea decreased the abundance of Geobacter, but not Desulfotomaculum, indicating that Geobacter acquired energy via syntrophic interaction with methanogenic archaea. Although electron acceptor compounds such as sulfate and iron oxides have been thought to suppress methanogenesis, this study revealed that coexistence of sulfate and iron oxide can promote methanogenesis by biomineralization of (semi)conductive iron sulfides that enable methanogenesis via electric syntrophy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Souichiro Kato
- Bioproduction Research Institute, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Sapporo, Japan.,Division of Applied Bioscience, Graduate School of Agriculture, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan
| | - Kensuke Igarashi
- Bioproduction Research Institute, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Sapporo, Japan
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30
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Yamamoto M, Nakamura R, Takai K. Deep-Sea Hydrothermal Fields as Natural Power Plants. ChemElectroChem 2018. [DOI: 10.1002/celc.201800394] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Masahiro Yamamoto
- Department of Subsurface Geobiology Analysis and Research (D-SUGAR); Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC); Yokosuka 273-0061 Japan
| | - Ryuhei Nakamura
- Biofunctional Catalyst Research Team; RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science; 2-1 Hirosawa, Wako Saitama 351-0198 Japan
- Earth-Life Science Institute; Tokyo Institute of Technology; 2-12-1-IE-1, Ookayama, Meguro-ku Tokyo 152-8550 Japan
| | - Ken Takai
- Department of Subsurface Geobiology Analysis and Research (D-SUGAR); Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC); Yokosuka 273-0061 Japan
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31
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Chin KB, Chi I, Pasalic J, Huang CK, Barge LM. An introductory study using impedance spectroscopy technique with polarizable microelectrode for amino acids characterization. THE REVIEW OF SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENTS 2018; 89:045108. [PMID: 29716330 DOI: 10.1063/1.5020076] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/08/2023]
Abstract
Portable, low power, yet ultra-sensitive life detection instrumentations are vital to future astrobiology flight programs at NASA. In this study, initial attempts to characterize amino acids in an aqueous environment by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) using polarizable (blocking) electrodes in order to establish a means of detection via their electrical properties. Seven amino acids were chosen due to their scientific importance in demonstrating sensitivity levels in the range of part per billion concentration. Albeit more challenging in real systems of analyst mixtures, we found individual amino acids in aqueous environment do exhibit some degree of chemical and physical uniqueness to warrant characterization by EIS. The polar amino acids (Asp, Glu, and His) exhibited higher electrochemical activity than the non-polar amino acids (Ala, Gly, Val, and Leu). The non-polar amino acids (Gly and Ala) also exhibited unique electrical properties which appeared to be more dependent on physical characteristics such as molecular weight and structure. At concentrations above 1 mM where the amino acids play a more dominant transport role within the water, the conductivity was found to be more sensitive to concentrations. At lower concentrations <1 mM, however, the polar amino acid solution conductivity remained constant, suggesting poor chemical activity with water. As revealed by equivalent circuit modeling, the relaxation times showed a 1-2 order of magnitude difference between polar and non-polar amino acids. The pseudo-capacitance from EIS measurements on sample mixtures containing salt water and individual amino acids revealed the possibility for improvement in amino acid selectivity using gold nanoporous surface enhanced electrodes. This work establishes important methodologies for characterizing amino acids using EIS combined with microscale electrodes, supporting the case for instrumentation development for life detection and origin of life programs.
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Affiliation(s)
- K B Chin
- NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, California 91109, USA
| | - I Chi
- NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, California 91109, USA
| | - J Pasalic
- NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, California 91109, USA
| | - C-K Huang
- NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, California 91109, USA
| | - Laura M Barge
- NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, California 91109, USA
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32
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Kitadai N, Nakamura R, Yamamoto M, Takai K, Li Y, Yamaguchi A, Gilbert A, Ueno Y, Yoshida N, Oono Y. Geoelectrochemical CO production: Implications for the autotrophic origin of life. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2018; 4:eaao7265. [PMID: 29632890 PMCID: PMC5884689 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aao7265] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/20/2017] [Accepted: 02/16/2018] [Indexed: 05/09/2023]
Abstract
Wächtershäuser's proposal of the autotrophic origin of life theory and subsequent laboratory demonstrations of relevant organic reactions have opened a new gate for the exploration of the origin of life. However, this scenario remains controversial because, at present, it requires a high pressure of CO as a source of carbon and reducing energy, although CO must have been a trace C species on the Hadean Earth. We show that, simulating a geoelectrochemical environment in deep-sea hydrothermal fields, CO production with up to ~40% Faraday efficiency was attainable on CdS in CO2-saturated NaCl solution at ≤-1 V (versus the standard hydrogen electrode). The threshold potential is readily generated in the H2-rich, high-temperature, and alkaline hydrothermal vents that were probably widespread on the early komatiitic and basaltic ocean crust. Thus, Wächtershäuser's scenario starting from CO2 was likely to be realized in the Hadean ocean hydrothermal systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Norio Kitadai
- Earth-Life Science Institute, Tokyo Institute of Technology, 2-12-1 Ookayama, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 152-8550, Japan
- Corresponding author.
| | - Ryuhei Nakamura
- Earth-Life Science Institute, Tokyo Institute of Technology, 2-12-1 Ookayama, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 152-8550, Japan
- Biofunctional Catalyst Research Team, RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science, 2-1 Hirosawa, Wako, Saitama 351-0198, Japan
| | - Masahiro Yamamoto
- Department of Subsurface Geobiological Analysis and Research, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, 2-15 Natsushima-cho, Yokosuka 237-0061, Japan
| | - Ken Takai
- Earth-Life Science Institute, Tokyo Institute of Technology, 2-12-1 Ookayama, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 152-8550, Japan
- Department of Subsurface Geobiological Analysis and Research, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, 2-15 Natsushima-cho, Yokosuka 237-0061, Japan
| | - Yamei Li
- Biofunctional Catalyst Research Team, RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science, 2-1 Hirosawa, Wako, Saitama 351-0198, Japan
| | - Akira Yamaguchi
- Department of Materials Science and Engineering, School of Materials and Chemical Technology, Tokyo Institute of Technology, S7-9, 2-12-1 Ookayama, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 152-8552, Japan
| | - Alexis Gilbert
- Earth-Life Science Institute, Tokyo Institute of Technology, 2-12-1 Ookayama, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 152-8550, Japan
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Tokyo Institute of Technology, 2-12-1 Ookayama, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 152-8551, Japan
| | - Yuichiro Ueno
- Earth-Life Science Institute, Tokyo Institute of Technology, 2-12-1 Ookayama, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 152-8550, Japan
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Tokyo Institute of Technology, 2-12-1 Ookayama, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 152-8551, Japan
| | - Naohiro Yoshida
- Earth-Life Science Institute, Tokyo Institute of Technology, 2-12-1 Ookayama, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 152-8550, Japan
- Department of Environmental Chemistry and Engineering, Tokyo Institute of Technology, 4259 Nagatsuta, Midori-ku, Yokohama, Kanazawa 226-8503, Japan
| | - Yoshi Oono
- Department of Physics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1110 West Green Street, Urbana, IL 61801–3080, USA
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Kawaichi S, Yamada T, Umezawa A, McGlynn SE, Suzuki T, Dohmae N, Yoshida T, Sako Y, Matsushita N, Hashimoto K, Nakamura R. Anodic and Cathodic Extracellular Electron Transfer by the Filamentous Bacterium Ardenticatena maritima 110S. Front Microbiol 2018; 9:68. [PMID: 29467724 PMCID: PMC5808234 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2018.00068] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/02/2017] [Accepted: 01/11/2018] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Ardenticatena maritima strain 110S is a filamentous bacterium isolated from an iron-rich coastal hydrothermal field, and it is a unique isolate capable of dissimilatory iron or nitrate reduction among the members of the bacterial phylum Chloroflexi. Here, we report the ability of A. maritima strain 110S to utilize electrodes as a sole electron acceptor and donor when coupled with the oxidation of organic compounds and nitrate reduction, respectively. In addition, multicellular filaments with hundreds of cells arranged end-to-end increased the extracellular electron transfer (EET) ability to electrodes by organizing filaments into bundled structures, with the aid of microbially reduced iron oxide minerals on the cell surface of strain 110S. Based on these findings, together with the attempt to detect surface-localized cytochromes in the genome sequence and the demonstration of redox-dependent staining and immunostaining of the cell surface, we propose a model of bidirectional electron transport by A. maritima strain 110S, in which surface-localized multiheme cytochromes and surface-associated iron minerals serve as a conduit of bidirectional EET in multicellular filaments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Satoshi Kawaichi
- Biofunctional Catalyst Research Team, Center for Sustainable Resource Science, RIKEN, Saitama, Japan
| | - Tetsuya Yamada
- Biofunctional Catalyst Research Team, Center for Sustainable Resource Science, RIKEN, Saitama, Japan.,Department of Electronic Chemistry, Interdisciplinary Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Akio Umezawa
- Biofunctional Catalyst Research Team, Center for Sustainable Resource Science, RIKEN, Saitama, Japan
| | - Shawn E McGlynn
- Biofunctional Catalyst Research Team, Center for Sustainable Resource Science, RIKEN, Saitama, Japan.,Earth-Life Science Institute, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Takehiro Suzuki
- Biomolecular Characterization Unit, Center for Sustainable Resource Science, RIKEN, Wako, Japan
| | - Naoshi Dohmae
- Biomolecular Characterization Unit, Center for Sustainable Resource Science, RIKEN, Wako, Japan
| | - Takashi Yoshida
- Laboratory of Marine Microbiology, Graduate School of Agriculture, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan
| | - Yoshihiko Sako
- Laboratory of Marine Microbiology, Graduate School of Agriculture, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan
| | - Nobuhiro Matsushita
- Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, Japan
| | | | - Ryuhei Nakamura
- Biofunctional Catalyst Research Team, Center for Sustainable Resource Science, RIKEN, Saitama, Japan.,Earth-Life Science Institute, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, Japan
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34
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Chiral Symmetry Breaking in Magnetoelectrochemical Etching with Chloride Additives. Molecules 2017; 23:molecules23010019. [PMID: 29271921 PMCID: PMC5943964 DOI: 10.3390/molecules23010019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/29/2017] [Revised: 12/19/2017] [Accepted: 12/20/2017] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Magnetoelectrolysis (electrolysis under magnetic fields) produces chiral surfaces on metal thin films, which can recognize the enantiomers of amino acids. Here, the chiral surface formation on copper films is reported in magnetoelectrochemical etching (MEE) at 5T with chloride additives. In the absence of additives, the surface chirality signs of MEE films depended on the magnetic field polarity. On the contrary, the MEE films prepared with the additives exhibited only d-activity in both magnetic field polarities. This result implies that the specific adsorption of chloride additives induces the chiral symmetry breaking for the magnetic field polarity.
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Abstract
The reductive tricarboxylic acid (rTCA) cycle is among the most plausible candidates for the first autotrophic metabolism in the earliest life. Extant enzymes fixing CO2 in this cycle contain cofactors at the catalytic centers, but it is unlikely that the protein/cofactor system emerged at once in a prebiotic process. Here, we discuss the feasibility of non-enzymatic cofactor-assisted drive of the rTCA reactions in the primitive Earth environments, particularly focusing on the acetyl-CoA conversion to pyruvate. Based on the energetic and mechanistic aspects of this reaction, we propose that the deep-sea hydrothermal vent environments with active electricity generation in the presence of various sulfide catalysts are a promising setting for it to progress. Our view supports the theory of an autotrophic origin of life from primordial carbon assimilation within a sulfide-rich hydrothermal vent.
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36
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Constructing the magnetic bifunctional graphene/titania nanosheet-based composite photocatalysts for enhanced visible-light photodegradation of MB and electrochemical ORR from polluted water. Sci Rep 2017; 7:12296. [PMID: 28947830 PMCID: PMC5612995 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-12504-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/20/2017] [Accepted: 09/11/2017] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Photocatalysis is a promising strategy to address the global environmental and energy challenges. However, the studies on the application of the photocatalytically degraded dye-polluted water and the multi-purpose use of one type of catalyst have remained sparse. In this report, we try to demonstrate a concept of multiple and cyclic application of materials and resources in environmentally relevant catalyst reactions. A magnetic composite catalyst prepared from exfoliated titania nanosheets, graphene, the magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles, and a polyelectrolyte enabled such a cyclic application. The composite catalyst decomposed a methylene blue-polluted water under visible light, and then the catalyst was collected and removed from the treated water using a magnet. The photocatalytically treated water was then used to prepare the electrolyte in electrochemical reductive reactions and presented superior electrochemical performance compared with the dye-polluted water. The composite catalyst was once again used as the cathode catalyst in the electrochemical reaction. Each component in the composite catalyst was indispensable in its catalytic activity, but each component played different roles in the photochemical, magnetic recycling, and electrochemical processes. We expect the report inspire the study on the multi-functional catalyst and cyclic use of the catalytically cleaned water, which should contribute for the environmental and energy remedy from a novel perspective.
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Barge LM, White LM. Experimentally Testing Hydrothermal Vent Origin of Life on Enceladus and Other Icy/Ocean Worlds. ASTROBIOLOGY 2017; 17:820-833. [PMID: 28836818 DOI: 10.1089/ast.2016.1633] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/22/2023]
Abstract
We review various laboratory strategies and methods that can be utilized to simulate prebiotic processes and origin of life in hydrothermal vent systems on icy/ocean worlds. Crucial steps that could be simulated in the laboratory include simulations of water-rock chemistry (e.g., serpentinization) to produce hydrothermal fluids, the types of mineral catalysts and energy gradients produced in vent interfaces where hydrothermal fluids interface with the surrounding seawater, and simulations of biologically relevant chemistry in flow-through gradient systems (i.e., far-from-equilibrium experiments). We describe some examples of experimental designs in detail, which are adaptable and could be used to test particular hypotheses about ocean world energetics or mineral/organic chemistry. Enceladus among the ocean worlds provides an ideal test case, since the pressure at the ocean floor is more easily simulated in the lab. Results for Enceladus could be extrapolated with further experiments and modeling to understand other ocean worlds. Key Words: Enceladus-Ocean worlds-Icy worlds-Hydrothermal vent-Iron sulfide-Gradient. Astrobiology 17, 820-833.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laura M Barge
- NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology , Pasadena, California
| | - Lauren M White
- NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology , Pasadena, California
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38
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Taran O. Electron Transfer between Electrically Conductive Minerals and Quinones. Front Chem 2017; 5:49. [PMID: 28752088 PMCID: PMC5508016 DOI: 10.3389/fchem.2017.00049] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/15/2016] [Accepted: 06/21/2017] [Indexed: 01/04/2023] Open
Abstract
Long-distance electron transfer in marine environments couples physically separated redox half-reactions, impacting biogeochemical cycles of iron, sulfur and carbon. Bacterial bio-electrochemical systems that facilitate electron transfer via conductive filaments or across man-made electrodes are well-known, but the impact of abiotic currents across naturally occurring conductive and semiconductive minerals is poorly understood. In this paper I use cyclic voltammetry to explore electron transfer between electrodes made of common iron minerals (magnetite, hematite, pyrite, pyrrhotite, mackinawite, and greigite), and hydroquinones—a class of organic molecules found in carbon-rich sediments. Of all tested minerals, only pyrite and magnetite showed an increase in electric current in the presence of organic molecules, with pyrite showing excellent electrocatalytic performance. Pyrite electrodes performed better than commercially available glassy carbon electrodes and showed higher peak currents, lower overpotential values and a smaller separation between oxidation and reduction peaks for each tested quinone. Hydroquinone oxidation on pyrite surfaces was reversible, diffusion controlled, and stable over a large number of potential cycles. Given the ubiquity of both pyrite and quinones, abiotic electron transfer between minerals and organic molecules is likely widespread in Nature and may contribute to several different phenomena, including anaerobic respiration of a wide variety of microorganisms in temporally anoxic zones or in the proximity of hydrothermal vent chimneys, as well as quinone cycling and the propagation of anoxic zones in organic rich waters. Finally, interactions between pyrite and quinones make use of electrochemical gradients that have been suggested as an important source of energy for the origins of life on Earth. Ubiquinones and iron sulfide clusters are common redox cofactors found in electron transport chains across all domains of life and interactions between quinones and pyrite might have been an early analog of these ubiquitous systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Olga Taran
- Department of Chemistry, Emory UniversityAtlanta, GA, United States
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Lin S, Li H, Xu L, Zhang Y, Cui C. A novel experimental device for electrochemical measurements in supercritical fluids up to 700 °C/1000 bar and its application in the corrosion study of superalloy Inconel 740H. RSC Adv 2017. [DOI: 10.1039/c7ra04054g] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/17/2022] Open
Abstract
The design of the device enables in situ electrochemical measurements in ultra-supercritical fluids up to 700 °C/1000 bar.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sen Lin
- Key Laboratory for High Temperature & High Pressure Study of the Earth's Interior
- Institute of Geochemistry
- Chinese Academy of Sciences
- Guiyang 550081
- China
| | - Heping Li
- Key Laboratory for High Temperature & High Pressure Study of the Earth's Interior
- Institute of Geochemistry
- Chinese Academy of Sciences
- Guiyang 550081
- China
| | - Liping Xu
- Key Laboratory for High Temperature & High Pressure Study of the Earth's Interior
- Institute of Geochemistry
- Chinese Academy of Sciences
- Guiyang 550081
- China
| | - Yanqing Zhang
- National Laboratory for Clean Energy (DNL)
- Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics
- Chinese Academy of Sciences
- Dalian 116000
- China
| | - Can Cui
- Key Laboratory for High Temperature & High Pressure Study of the Earth's Interior
- Institute of Geochemistry
- Chinese Academy of Sciences
- Guiyang 550081
- China
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