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Fournier GP, Parsons CW, Cutts EM, Tamre E. Standard Candles for Dating Microbial Lineages. Methods Mol Biol 2022; 2569:41-74. [PMID: 36083443 DOI: 10.1007/978-1-0716-2691-7_3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/24/2023]
Abstract
Molecular clock analyses are challenging for microbial phylogenies, due to a lack of fossil calibrations that can reliably provide absolute time constraints. An alternative source of temporal constraints for microbial groups is provided by the inheritance of proteins that are specific for the utilization of eukaryote-derived substrates, which have often been dispersed across the Tree of Life via horizontal gene transfer. In particular, animal, algal, and plant-derived substrates are often produced by groups with more precisely known divergence times, providing an older-bound on their availability within microbial environments. Therefore, these ages can serve as "standard candles" for dating microbial groups across the Tree of Life, expanding the reach of informative molecular clock investigations. Here, we formally develop the concept of substrate standard candles and describe how they can be propagated and applied using both microbial species trees and individual gene family phylogenies. We also provide detailed evaluations of several candidate standard candles and discuss their suitability in light of their often complex evolutionary and metabolic histories.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gregory P Fournier
- Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA.
| | - Chris W Parsons
- Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Elise M Cutts
- Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Erik Tamre
- Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
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2
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Mojarro A, Jin L, Szostak JW, Head JW, Zuber MT. In search of the RNA world on Mars. GEOBIOLOGY 2021; 19:307-321. [PMID: 33565260 PMCID: PMC8248371 DOI: 10.1111/gbi.12433] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/02/2020] [Revised: 01/22/2021] [Accepted: 01/23/2021] [Indexed: 05/17/2023]
Abstract
Advances in origins of life research and prebiotic chemistry suggest that life as we know it may have emerged from an earlier RNA World. However, it has been difficult to reconcile the conditions used in laboratory experiments with real-world geochemical environments that may have existed on the early Earth and hosted the origin(s) of life. This challenge is due to geologic resurfacing and recycling that have erased the overwhelming majority of the Earth's prebiotic history. We therefore propose that Mars, a planet frozen in time, comprised of many surfaces that have remained relatively unchanged since their formation > 4 Gya, is the best alternative to search for environments consistent with geochemical requirements imposed by the RNA world. In this study, we synthesize in situ and orbital observations of Mars and modeling of its early atmosphere into solutions containing a range of pHs and concentrations of prebiotically relevant metals (Fe2+ , Mg2+ , and Mn2+ ) spanning various candidate aqueous environments. We then experimentally determine RNA degradation kinetics due to metal-catalyzed hydrolysis (cleavage) and evaluate whether early Mars could have been permissive toward the accumulation of long-lived RNA polymers. Our results indicate that a Mg2+ -rich basalt sourcing metals to a slightly acidic (pH 5.4) environment mediates the slowest rates of RNA cleavage, though geologic evidence and basalt weathering models suggest aquifers on Mars would be near neutral (pH ~ 7). Moreover, the early onset of oxidizing conditions on Mars has major consequences regarding the availability of oxygen-sensitive metals (i.e., Fe2+ and Mn2+ ) due to increased RNA degradation rates and precipitation. Overall, (a) low pH decreases RNA cleavage at high metal concentrations; (b) acidic to neutral pH environments with Fe2+ or Mn2+ cleave more RNA than Mg2+ ; and (c) alkaline environments with Mg2+ dramatically cleaves more RNA while precipitates were observed for Fe2+ and Mn2+ .
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Affiliation(s)
- Angel Mojarro
- Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary SciencesMassachusetts Institute of TechnologyCambridgeMAUSA
| | - Lin Jin
- Department of Molecular Biology, and Center for Computational and Integrative BiologyMassachusetts General HospitalBostonMAUSA
| | - Jack W. Szostak
- Department of Molecular Biology, and Center for Computational and Integrative BiologyMassachusetts General HospitalBostonMAUSA
| | - James W. Head
- Department of Earth, Environmental and Planetary SciencesBrown UniversityProvidenceRIUSA
| | - Maria T. Zuber
- Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary SciencesMassachusetts Institute of TechnologyCambridgeMAUSA
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3
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Alleon J, Montagnac G, Reynard B, Brulé T, Thoury M, Gueriau P. Pushing Raman spectroscopy over the edge: purported signatures of organic molecules in fossil animals are instrumental artefacts. Bioessays 2021; 43:e2000295. [PMID: 33543495 DOI: 10.1002/bies.202000295] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/09/2020] [Revised: 12/22/2020] [Accepted: 01/12/2021] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
Abstract
Widespread preservation of fossilized biomolecules in many fossil animals has recently been reported in six studies, based on Raman microspectroscopy. Here, we show that the putative Raman signatures of organic compounds in these fossils are actually instrumental artefacts resulting from intense background luminescence. Raman spectroscopy is based on the detection of photons scattered inelastically by matter upon its interaction with a laser beam. For many natural materials, this interaction also generates a luminescence signal that is often orders of magnitude more intense than the light produced by Raman scattering. Such luminescence, coupled with the transmission properties of the spectrometer, induced quasi-periodic ripples in the measured spectra that have been incorrectly interpreted as Raman signatures of organic molecules. Although several analytical strategies have been developed to overcome this common issue, Raman microspectroscopy as used in the studies questioned here cannot be used to identify fossil biomolecules.
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Affiliation(s)
- Julien Alleon
- Institute of Earth Sciences, University of Lausanne, Géopolis, Lausanne, CH-1015, Switzerland
| | - Gilles Montagnac
- Université de Lyon, ENS de Lyon, Université Lyon 1, CNRS, LGL-TPE, Lyon, F-69007, France
| | - Bruno Reynard
- Université de Lyon, ENS de Lyon, Université Lyon 1, CNRS, LGL-TPE, Lyon, F-69007, France
| | | | - Mathieu Thoury
- Universitè Paris-Saclay, CNRS, ministère de la Culture, UVSQ, MNHN, Institut photonique d'analyse non-destructive européen des matériaux anciens, Saint-Aubin, 91192, France
| | - Pierre Gueriau
- Institute of Earth Sciences, University of Lausanne, Géopolis, Lausanne, CH-1015, Switzerland
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Kacar B, Garcia AK, Anbar AD. Evolutionary History of Bioessential Elements Can Guide the Search for Life in the Universe. Chembiochem 2020; 22:114-119. [PMID: 33136319 DOI: 10.1002/cbic.202000500] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/22/2020] [Revised: 09/29/2020] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
Abstract
Our understanding of life in the universe comes from one sample, life on Earth. Current and next-generation space missions will target exoplanets as well as planets and moons in our own solar system with the primary goal of detecting, interpreting and characterizing indications of possible biological activity. Thus, understanding life's fundamental characteristics is increasingly critical for detecting and interpreting potential biological signatures elsewhere in the universe. Astrobiologists have outlined the essential roles of carbon and water for life, but we have yet to decipher the rules governing the evolution of how living organisms use bioessential elements. Does the suite of life's essential chemical elements on Earth constitute only one possible evolutionary outcome? Are some elements so essential for biological functions that evolution will select for them despite low availability? How would this play out on other worlds that have different relative element abundances? When we look for life in the universe, or the conditions that could give rise to life, we must learn how to recognize it in extremely different chemical and environmental conditions from those on Earth. We argue that by exposing self-organizing biotic chemistries to different combinations of abiotic materials, and by mapping the evolutionary history of metalloenzyme biochemistry onto geological availabilities of metals, alternative element choices that are very different from life's present-day molecular structure might result. A greater understanding of the paleomolecular evolutionary history of life on Earth will create a predictive capacity for detecting and assessing life's existence on worlds where alternate evolutionary paths might have been taken.
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Affiliation(s)
- Betul Kacar
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of Arizona, 1007 E Lowell St, Tucson, AZ, 85721, USA.,Department of Astronomy and Steward Observatory, University of Arizona, 933 N Cherry Ave, Tucson, AZ, 85719, USA.,Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona, 1629 E University Blvd, Tucson, AZ, 85721, USA.,Earth-Life Science Institute, Tokyo Institute of Technology, 1 Chome-31 Ishikawacho, Ota City, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Amanda K Garcia
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of Arizona, 1007 E Lowell St, Tucson, AZ, 85721, USA
| | - Ariel D Anbar
- School of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University, E Tyler Mall, Tempe, AZ, 85281, USA
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Origins, transitions, and traces of life: Comment on "Mineral self-organization on a lifeless planet" by J.M. García-Ruiz et al. Phys Life Rev 2020; 34-35:83-85. [PMID: 32684434 DOI: 10.1016/j.plrev.2020.06.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/16/2020] [Accepted: 06/16/2020] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
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7
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García-Ruiz JM, van Zuilen MA, Bach W. Mineral self-organization on a lifeless planet. Phys Life Rev 2020; 34-35:62-82. [PMID: 32303465 DOI: 10.1016/j.plrev.2020.01.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/11/2019] [Accepted: 01/10/2020] [Indexed: 01/14/2023]
Abstract
It has been experimentally demonstrated that, under alkaline conditions, silica is able to induce the formation of mineral self-assembled inorganic-inorganic composite materials similar in morphology, texture and nanostructure to the hybrid biomineral structures that, millions of years later, life was able to self-organize. These mineral self-organized structures (MISOS) have been also shown to work as effective catalysts for prebiotic chemical reactions and to easily create compartmentalization within the solutions where they form. We reason that, during the very earliest history of this planet, there was a geochemical scenario that inevitably led to the existence of a large-scale factory of simple and complex organic compounds, many of which were relevant to prebiotic chemistry. The factory was built on a silica-rich high-pH ocean and powered by two main factors: a) a quasi-infinite source of simple carbon molecules synthesized abiotically from reactions associated with serpentinization, or transported from meteorites and produced from their impact on that alkaline ocean, and b) the formation of self-organized silica-metal mineral composites that catalyze the condensation of simple molecules in a methane-rich reduced atmosphere. We discuss the plausibility of this geochemical scenario, review the details of the formation of MISOS and its catalytic properties and the transition towards a slightly alkaline to neutral ocean.
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Affiliation(s)
- Juan Manuel García-Ruiz
- Laboratorio de Estudios Cristalográficos, Instituto Andaluz de Ciencias de la Tierra, CSIC-Universidad de Granada, Av. de las Palmeras 4, Armilla (Granada), Spain.
| | - Mark A van Zuilen
- Equipe Géomicrobiologie, Université de Paris, Institut de physique du globe de Paris, CNRS, F-75005 Paris, France.
| | - Wolfgang Bach
- Geoscience Department and MARUM, University of Bremen, Klagenfurter Str. 2, 28359 Bremen, Germany.
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Jacquemot P, Viennet JC, Bernard S, Le Guillou C, Rigaud B, Delbes L, Georgelin T, Jaber M. The degradation of organic compounds impacts the crystallization of clay minerals and vice versa. Sci Rep 2019; 9:20251. [PMID: 31882914 PMCID: PMC6934458 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-56756-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/19/2019] [Accepted: 11/28/2019] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
Expanding our capabilities to unambiguously identify ancient traces of life in ancient rocks requires laboratory experiments to better constrain the evolution of biomolecules during advanced fossilization processes. Here, we submitted RNA to hydrothermal conditions in the presence of a gel of Al-smectite stoichiometry at 200 °C for 20 days. NMR and STXM-XANES investigations revealed that the organic fraction of the residues is no longer RNA, nor the quite homogeneous aromatic-rich residue obtained in the absence of clays, but rather consists of particles of various chemical composition including amide-rich compounds. Rather than the pure clays obtained in the absence of RNA, electron microscopy (SEM and TEM) and diffraction (XRD) data showed that the mineralogy of the experimental residues includes amorphous silica and aluminosilicates mixed together with nanoscales phosphates and clay minerals. In addition to the influence of clay minerals on the degradation of organic compounds, these results evidence the influence of the presence of organic compounds on the nature of the mineral assemblage, highlighting the importance of fine-scale mineralogical investigations when discussing the nature/origin of organo-mineral microstructures found in ancient rocks.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pierre Jacquemot
- National Museum of Natural History (MNHN), Sorbonne University, CNRS, Institute of Mineralogy, Material Physics and Cosmochemistry (IMPMC - UMR 7590), F-75005, Paris, France
- Sorbonne University, CNRS, Laboratory of Molecular and Structural Archeology (LAMS - UMR 8220), F-75005, Paris, France
| | - Jean-Christophe Viennet
- National Museum of Natural History (MNHN), Sorbonne University, CNRS, Institute of Mineralogy, Material Physics and Cosmochemistry (IMPMC - UMR 7590), F-75005, Paris, France
- Sorbonne University, CNRS, Laboratory of Molecular and Structural Archeology (LAMS - UMR 8220), F-75005, Paris, France
| | - Sylvain Bernard
- National Museum of Natural History (MNHN), Sorbonne University, CNRS, Institute of Mineralogy, Material Physics and Cosmochemistry (IMPMC - UMR 7590), F-75005, Paris, France.
| | | | | | - Ludovic Delbes
- National Museum of Natural History (MNHN), Sorbonne University, CNRS, Institute of Mineralogy, Material Physics and Cosmochemistry (IMPMC - UMR 7590), F-75005, Paris, France
| | | | - Maguy Jaber
- Sorbonne University, CNRS, Laboratory of Molecular and Structural Archeology (LAMS - UMR 8220), F-75005, Paris, France
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Alleon J, Flannery DT, Ferralis N, Williford KH, Zhang Y, Schuessler JA, Summons RE. Organo-mineral associations in chert of the 3.5 Ga Mount Ada Basalt raise questions about the origin of organic matter in Paleoarchean hydrothermally influenced sediments. Sci Rep 2019; 9:16712. [PMID: 31723181 PMCID: PMC6853986 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-53272-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/29/2019] [Accepted: 10/30/2019] [Indexed: 11/27/2022] Open
Abstract
Hydrothermal and metamorphic processes could have abiotically produced organo-mineral associations displaying morphological and isotopic characteristics similar to those of fossilized microorganisms in ancient rocks, thereby leaving false-positive evidence for early life in the geological record. Recent studies revealed that geologically-induced alteration processes do not always completely obliterate all molecular information about the original organic precursors of ancient microfossils. Here, we report the molecular, geochemical, and mineralogical composition of organo-mineral associations in a chert sample from the ca. 3.47 billion-year-old (Ga) Mount Ada Basalt, in the Pilbara Craton, Western Australia. Our observations indicate that the molecular characteristics of carbonaceous matter are consistent with hydrothermally altered biological organics, although significantly distinct from that of organic microfossils discovered in a chert sample from the ca. 3.43 Ga Strelley Pool Formation in the same area. Alternatively, the presence of native metal alloys in the chert, previously believed to be unstable in such hydrothermally influenced environments, indicates strongly reducing conditions that were favorable for the abiotic formation of organic matter. Drawing definitive conclusions about the origin of most Paleoarchean organo-mineral associations therefore requires further characterization of a range of natural samples together with experimental simulations to constrain the molecular composition and geological fate of hydrothermally-generated condensed organics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Julien Alleon
- Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.
- Now at Institute of Earth Sciences, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.
| | - David T Flannery
- Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA
| | - Nicola Ferralis
- Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
| | - Kenneth H Williford
- Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA
| | - Yong Zhang
- Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
| | | | - Roger E Summons
- Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
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10
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Javaux EJ. Challenges in evidencing the earliest traces of life. Nature 2019; 572:451-460. [PMID: 31435057 DOI: 10.1038/s41586-019-1436-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 112] [Impact Index Per Article: 22.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/06/2018] [Accepted: 06/21/2019] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
Earth has been habitable for 4.3 billion years, and the earliest rock record indicates the presence of a microbial biosphere by at least 3.4 billion years ago-and disputably earlier. Possible traces of life can be morphological or chemical but abiotic processes that mimic or alter them, or subsequent contamination, may challenge their interpretation. Advances in micro- and nanoscale analyses, as well as experimental approaches, are improving the characterization of these biosignatures and constraining abiotic processes, when combined with the geological context. Reassessing the evidence of early life is challenging, but essential and timely in the quest to understand the origin and evolution of life, both on Earth and beyond.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emmanuelle J Javaux
- Early Life Traces & Evolution-Astrobiology, UR Astrobiology, Department of Geology, University of Liège, Liège, Belgium.
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Demoulin CF, Lara YJ, Cornet L, François C, Baurain D, Wilmotte A, Javaux EJ. Cyanobacteria evolution: Insight from the fossil record. Free Radic Biol Med 2019; 140:206-223. [PMID: 31078731 PMCID: PMC6880289 DOI: 10.1016/j.freeradbiomed.2019.05.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 53] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/29/2018] [Revised: 03/13/2019] [Accepted: 05/05/2019] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
Abstract
Cyanobacteria played an important role in the evolution of Early Earth and the biosphere. They are responsible for the oxygenation of the atmosphere and oceans since the Great Oxidation Event around 2.4 Ga, debatably earlier. They are also major primary producers in past and present oceans, and the ancestors of the chloroplast. Nevertheless, the identification of cyanobacteria in the early fossil record remains ambiguous because the morphological criteria commonly used are not always reliable for microfossil interpretation. Recently, new biosignatures specific to cyanobacteria were proposed. Here, we review the classic and new cyanobacterial biosignatures. We also assess the reliability of the previously described cyanobacteria fossil record and the challenges of molecular approaches on modern cyanobacteria. Finally, we suggest possible new calibration points for molecular clocks, and strategies to improve our understanding of the timing and pattern of the evolution of cyanobacteria and oxygenic photosynthesis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Catherine F Demoulin
- Early Life Traces & Evolution - Astrobiology, UR ASTROBIOLOGY, Geology Department, University of Liège, Liège, Belgium.
| | - Yannick J Lara
- Early Life Traces & Evolution - Astrobiology, UR ASTROBIOLOGY, Geology Department, University of Liège, Liège, Belgium
| | - Luc Cornet
- Early Life Traces & Evolution - Astrobiology, UR ASTROBIOLOGY, Geology Department, University of Liège, Liège, Belgium; Eukaryotic Phylogenomics, InBioS-PhytoSYSTEMS, University of Liège, Liège, Belgium
| | - Camille François
- Early Life Traces & Evolution - Astrobiology, UR ASTROBIOLOGY, Geology Department, University of Liège, Liège, Belgium
| | - Denis Baurain
- Eukaryotic Phylogenomics, InBioS-PhytoSYSTEMS, University of Liège, Liège, Belgium
| | - Annick Wilmotte
- BCCM/ULC Cyanobacteria Collection, InBioS-CIP, Centre for Protein Engineering, University of Liège, Liège, Belgium
| | - Emmanuelle J Javaux
- Early Life Traces & Evolution - Astrobiology, UR ASTROBIOLOGY, Geology Department, University of Liège, Liège, Belgium
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