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Garibello CF, Simonov AN, Eldridge DS, Mahlerbe F, Hocking RK. Redox properties of iron sulfides: direct versus catalytic reduction and implications for catalyst design. ChemCatChem 2022. [DOI: 10.1002/cctc.202200270] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- C. Felipe Garibello
- Swinburne University of Technology - Hawthorn Campus: Swinburne University of Technology Chemistry and Biotechnology AUSTRALIA
| | | | - Daniel S. Eldridge
- Swinburne University of Technology - Hawthorn Campus: Swinburne University of Technology Chemistry and Biotechnology AUSTRALIA
| | - Francois Mahlerbe
- Swinburne University of Technology - Hawthorn Campus: Swinburne University of Technology Chemistry and Biotechnology AUSTRALIA
| | - Rosalie Katherine Hocking
- Swinburne University of Technology Chemistry and Biotechnology John Street Hawthorn 3128 Melbourne AUSTRALIA
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Altair T, Borges LGF, Galante D, Varela H. Experimental Approaches for Testing the Hypothesis of the Emergence of Life at Submarine Alkaline Vents. Life (Basel) 2021; 11:777. [PMID: 34440521 PMCID: PMC8401828 DOI: 10.3390/life11080777] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/06/2021] [Revised: 07/21/2021] [Accepted: 07/28/2021] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Since the pioneering experimental work performed by Urey and Miller around 70 years ago, several experimental works have been developed for approaching the question of the origin of life based on very few well-constructed hypotheses. In recent years, attention has been drawn to the so-called alkaline hydrothermal vents model (AHV model) for the emergence of life. Since the first works, perspectives from complexity sciences, bioenergetics and thermodynamics have been incorporated into the model. Consequently, a high number of experimental works from the model using several tools have been developed. In this review, we present the key concepts that provide a background for the AHV model and then analyze the experimental approaches that were motivated by it. Experimental tools based on hydrothermal reactors, microfluidics and chemical gardens were used for simulating the environments of early AHVs on the Hadean Earth (~4.0 Ga). In addition, it is noteworthy that several works used techniques from electrochemistry to investigate phenomena in the vent-ocean interface for early AHVs. Their results provided important parameters and details that are used for the evaluation of the plausibility of the AHV model, and for the enhancement of it.
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Affiliation(s)
- Thiago Altair
- São Carlos Institute of Chemistry, University of São Paulo, São Carlos 13560-970, Brazil
| | - Luiz G. F. Borges
- Brazilian Synchrotron Light Laboratory (LNLS), Brazilian Center for Research in Energy and Materials (CNPEM), Campinas 13083-100, Brazil; (L.G.F.B.); (D.G.)
| | - Douglas Galante
- Brazilian Synchrotron Light Laboratory (LNLS), Brazilian Center for Research in Energy and Materials (CNPEM), Campinas 13083-100, Brazil; (L.G.F.B.); (D.G.)
| | - Hamilton Varela
- São Carlos Institute of Chemistry, University of São Paulo, São Carlos 13560-970, Brazil
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White LM, Shibuya T, Vance SD, Christensen LE, Bhartia R, Kidd R, Hoffmann A, Stucky GD, Kanik I, Russell MJ. Simulating Serpentinization as It Could Apply to the Emergence of Life Using the JPL Hydrothermal Reactor. ASTROBIOLOGY 2020; 20:307-326. [PMID: 32125196 DOI: 10.1089/ast.2018.1949] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
The molecules feeding life's emergence are thought to have been provided through the hydrothermal interactions of convecting carbonic ocean waters with minerals comprising the early Hadean oceanic crust. Few laboratory experiments have simulated ancient hydrothermal conditions to test this conjecture. We used the JPL hydrothermal flow reactor to investigate CO2 reduction in simulated ancient alkaline convective systems over 3 days (T = 120°C, P = 100 bar, pH = 11). H2-rich hydrothermal simulant and CO2-rich ocean simulant solutions were periodically driven in 4-h cycles through synthetic mafic and ultramafic substrates and Fe>Ni sulfides. The resulting reductants included micromoles of HS- and formate accompanied possibly by micromoles of acetate and intermittent minor bursts of methane as ascertained by isotopic labeling. The formate concentrations directly correlated with the CO2 input as well as with millimoles of Mg2+ ions, whereas the acetate did not. Also, tens of micromoles of methane were drawn continuously from the reactor materials during what appeared to be the onset of serpentinization. These results support the hypothesis that formate may have been delivered directly to a branch of an emerging acetyl coenzyme-A pathway, thus obviating the need for the very first hydrogenation of CO2 to be made in a hydrothermal mound. Another feed to early metabolism could have been methane, likely mostly leached from primary CH4 present in the original Hadean crust or emanating from the mantle. That a small volume of methane was produced sporadically from the 13CO2-feed, perhaps from transient occlusions, echoes the mixed results and interpretations from other laboratories. As serpentinization and hydrothermal leaching can occur wherever an ocean convects within anhydrous olivine- and sulfide-rich crust, these results may be generalized to other wet rocky planets and moons in our solar system and beyond.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lauren M White
- Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California at Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California
- Project Systems Engineering, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California
| | - Takazo Shibuya
- Department of Subsurface Geobiological Analysis and Research (D-SUGAR), Project Team for Development of New-generation Research Protocol for Submarine Resources, and Research and Development (RandD), Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC), Yokosuka, Japan
- Research and Development (RandD) Center for Submarine Resources, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC), Yokosuka, Japan
| | - Steven D Vance
- Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California
| | - Lance E Christensen
- Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California
| | - Rohit Bhartia
- Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California
| | - Richard Kidd
- Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California
| | - Adam Hoffmann
- Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California
| | - Galen D Stucky
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California at Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California
- Materials Department, University of California at Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California
| | - Isik Kanik
- Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California
| | - Michael J Russell
- Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California
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