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Cuéllar-Cruz M. New Insights on the Origin of Life: The Role of Silico-Carbonates of Ba (II) to Preserve DNA against Highly Intense UV Radiation. ACS OMEGA 2023; 8:29585-29594. [PMID: 37599928 PMCID: PMC10433334 DOI: 10.1021/acsomega.3c03516] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/19/2023] [Accepted: 07/26/2023] [Indexed: 08/22/2023]
Abstract
Understanding the origin of life on our planet has generated diverse theories. Currently, the theory is that life has a single origin; however, its starting point has not been defined. As evidenced, it is indispensable to unify the different theories to reach a single theory that would also allow linking the different areas of knowledge to finally understand the mechanism by which life originated on Earth. In this regard, aiming at contributing to the unification of the diverse theories on the origin of life, in this work, the hypothesis based on the condition that silica-carbonates of alkaline earth metals, called biomorphs, are the ones that could unify all the proposed theories on the origin of life is proposed. Aimed at evaluating if this hypothesis is viable, this work assessed whether biomorphs are able to protect the DNA from continuous UV radiation under two conditions that emulate the habitats that could have co-existed in the Precambrian and, after the radiation, evaluated the time during which DNA remained inside the biomorphs. Our results showed that biomorphs can protect the DNA for months after continuous UV exposure. It was also determined that biomorphs protect the DNA from external factors in different habitats, like normal atmospheric conditions and in aqueous environments. The obtained data allowed me to infer that biomorphs may be the gap that unifies the diverse proposed theories on the origin of life in our Planet.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mayra Cuéllar-Cruz
- Departamento de Biología, División
de Ciencias Naturales y Exactas, Campus Guanajuato, Universidad de Guanajuato, Noria Alta S/N, Col. Noria Alta, Guanajuato, Guanajuato 36050, Mexico
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Cuéllar-Cruz M, Islas SR, Ramírez-Ramírez N, Pedraza-Reyes M, Moreno A. Protection of the DNA from Selected Species of Five Kingdoms in Nature by Ba(II), Sr(II), and Ca(II) Silica-Carbonates: Implications about Biogenicity and Evolving from Prebiotic Chemistry to Biological Chemistry. ACS OMEGA 2022; 7:37410-37426. [PMID: 36312347 PMCID: PMC9609056 DOI: 10.1021/acsomega.2c04170] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/02/2022] [Accepted: 10/05/2022] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
The origin of life on Earth is associated with the Precambrian era, in which the existence of a large diversity of microbial fossils has been demonstrated. Notwithstanding, despite existing evidence of the emergence of life many unsolved questions remain. The first question could be as follows: Which was the inorganic structure that allowed isolation and conservation of the first biomolecules in the existing reduced conditions of the primigenial era? Minerals have been postulated as the ones in charge of protecting theses biomolecules against the external environment. There are calcium, barium, or strontium silica-carbonates, called biomorphs, which we propose as being one of the first inorganic structures in which biomolecules were protected from the external medium. Biomorphs are structures with different biological morphologies that are not formed by cells, but by nanocrystals; some of their morphologies resemble the microfossils found in Precambrian cherts. Even though biomorphs are unknown structures in the geological registry, their similarity with some biological forms, including some Apex fossils, could suggest them as the first "inorganic scaffold" where the first biomolecules became concentrated, conserved, aligned, and duplicated to give rise to the pioneering cell. However, it has not been documented whether biomorphs could have been the primary structures that conserved biomolecules in the Precambrian era. To attain a better understanding on whether biomorphs could have been the inorganic scaffold that existed in the primigenial Earth, the aim of this contribution is to synthesize calcium, barium, and strontium biomorphs in the presence of genomic DNA from organisms of the five kingdoms in conditions emulating the atmosphere of the Precambrian era and that CO2 concentration in conditions emulating current atmospheric conditions. Our results showed, for the first time, the formation of the kerogen signal, which is a marker of biogenicity in fossils, in the biomorphs grown in the presence of DNA. We also found the DNA to be internalized into the structure of biomorphs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mayra Cuéllar-Cruz
- Departamento
de Biología, División de Ciencias Naturales y Exactas,
Campus Guanajuato, Universidad de Guanajuato, Noria Alta S/N, Col. Noria Alta,
C.P. 36050, Guanajuato, Mexico
| | - Selene R. Islas
- Instituto
de Ciencias Aplicadas y Tecnología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Circuito Exterior S/N, Ciudad Universitaria, México City, 04510 Mexico
| | - Norma Ramírez-Ramírez
- Departamento
de Biología, División de Ciencias Naturales y Exactas,
Campus Guanajuato, Universidad de Guanajuato, Noria Alta S/N, Col. Noria Alta,
C.P. 36050, Guanajuato, Mexico
| | - Mario Pedraza-Reyes
- Departamento
de Biología, División de Ciencias Naturales y Exactas,
Campus Guanajuato, Universidad de Guanajuato, Noria Alta S/N, Col. Noria Alta,
C.P. 36050, Guanajuato, Mexico
| | - Abel Moreno
- Instituto
de Química, Universidad Nacional
Autónoma de México, Av. Universidad 3000, Ciudad Universitaria, México City 04510. Mexico
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Madrigal-Trejo D, Villanueva-Barragán PS, Zamudio-Ramírez R, Cervantes-de la Cruz KE, Mejía-Luna I, Chacón-Baca E, Negrón-Mendoza A, Ramos-Bernal S, Heredia-Barbero A. Histidine Self-assembly and Stability on Mineral Surfaces as a Model of Prebiotic Chemical Evolution: An Experimental and Computational Approach. ORIGINS LIFE EVOL B 2021; 51:117-130. [PMID: 33788055 DOI: 10.1007/s11084-021-09606-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/14/2020] [Accepted: 03/07/2021] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
The abiotic synthesis of histidine under experimental prebiotic conditions has proven to be chemically promising and plausible. Within this context, the present results suggest that histidine amino acid may function as a simple prebiotic catalyst able to enhance amino acid polymerization. This work describes an experimental and computational approach to the self-assembly and stabilization of DL-histidine on mineral surfaces using antigorite ((Mg, Fe)3Si2O5(OH)4), pyrite (FeS2), and aragonite (CaCO3) as representative minerals of prebiotic scenarios, such as meteorites, and subaerial and submarine hydrothermal systems. Experimental results were obtained through polarized-light microscopy, IR spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR), and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Molecular dynamics was performed through computational simulations with the MM + method in HyperChem software. IR spectra suggest the presence of peptide bonds in the antigorite-histidine and aragonite-histidine assemblages with the presence of amide I and amide II vibration bands. The FTIR second derivative inspection supports this observation. Moreover, DSC data shows histidine stabilization in the presence of antigorite and aragonite by changes in histidine thermodynamic properties, particularly an increase in histidine decomposition temperature (272ºC in antigorite and 275ºC in aragonite). Results from molecular dynamics are consistent with DSC data, suggesting an antigorite-histidine closer interaction with decreased molecular distances (cca. 5.5 Å) between the amino acid and the crystal surface. On the whole, the experimental and computational outcomes support the role of mineral surfaces in prebiotic chemical evolution as enhancers of organic stability.
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Affiliation(s)
- D Madrigal-Trejo
- Facultad de Ciencias, Departamento de Física, UNAM, Apdo. Postal 70-407, C.P. 04510 Ciudad Universitaria, Ciudad de México, México.,Laboratorio de Evolución Química, Instituto de Ciencias Nucleares, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Circuito Exterior S/N, Ciudad Universitaria Coyoacán, C.P. 04510, Ciudad de México, México
| | - P S Villanueva-Barragán
- Facultad de Ciencias, Departamento de Física, UNAM, Apdo. Postal 70-407, C.P. 04510 Ciudad Universitaria, Ciudad de México, México.,Laboratorio de Evolución Química, Instituto de Ciencias Nucleares, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Circuito Exterior S/N, Ciudad Universitaria Coyoacán, C.P. 04510, Ciudad de México, México
| | - R Zamudio-Ramírez
- Facultad de Ciencias, Departamento de Física, UNAM, Apdo. Postal 70-407, C.P. 04510 Ciudad Universitaria, Ciudad de México, México.,Laboratorio de Evolución Química, Instituto de Ciencias Nucleares, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Circuito Exterior S/N, Ciudad Universitaria Coyoacán, C.P. 04510, Ciudad de México, México
| | - K E Cervantes-de la Cruz
- Facultad de Ciencias, Departamento de Física, UNAM, Apdo. Postal 70-407, C.P. 04510 Ciudad Universitaria, Ciudad de México, México.,Departamento de Física de Plasmas e Interacción de Radiación con Materia, Instituto de Ciencias Nucleares, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Circuito Exterior S/N, Ciudad Universitaria Coyoacán, C.P. 04510, Ciudad de México, México
| | - I Mejía-Luna
- Facultad de Ciencias, Departamento de Física, UNAM, Apdo. Postal 70-407, C.P. 04510 Ciudad Universitaria, Ciudad de México, México
| | - E Chacón-Baca
- Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, Facultad de Ciencias de la Tierra, Exhacienda de Guadalupe, Carretera a Cerro Prieto km 8, Linares, Nuevo León, C.P. 67700, México
| | - A Negrón-Mendoza
- Laboratorio de Evolución Química, Instituto de Ciencias Nucleares, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Circuito Exterior S/N, Ciudad Universitaria Coyoacán, C.P. 04510, Ciudad de México, México
| | - S Ramos-Bernal
- Departamento de Física de Plasmas e Interacción de Radiación con Materia, Instituto de Ciencias Nucleares, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Circuito Exterior S/N, Ciudad Universitaria Coyoacán, C.P. 04510, Ciudad de México, México
| | - A Heredia-Barbero
- Laboratorio de Evolución Química, Instituto de Ciencias Nucleares, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Circuito Exterior S/N, Ciudad Universitaria Coyoacán, C.P. 04510, Ciudad de México, México.
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