Stepwise evolution of nonliving to living chemical systems

The Semi-Enzymatic Origin of Metabolic Pathways: Inferring a Very Early Stage of the Evolution of Life

The early evolution of life is a period with many important events with a lot of big and open questions. One of them is the evolution of metabolic pathways, which means the origin and assembly of enzymes that act together. The retrograde hypothesis was the first attempt to explain the origin and evolutionary history of metabolic pathways; Norman Horowitz developed this first significant hypothesis. This idea was followed by relevant proposals developed by Sam Granick, who proposed the "forward direction hypothesis," and then the successful idea of "Patchwork" assembly proposed independently by Martynas Yčas and Roy Jensen. Since then, a few new hypotheses were proposed; one of the most influential was made by Antonio Lazcano and Stanley Miller in the Journal Molecular Evolution, the "semi-enzymatic origin" of metabolic pathways. This article was cited more than 160 times, including in most papers published about the early evolution of metabolism, placing it as influential work in the field. The ideas proposed in this work and their effects on studying the origin and early evolution of life are analyzed.

The divergence and natural selection of autocatalytic primordial metabolic systems

The diversity of the central metabolism of modern organisms is caused by the existence of a few metabolic modules, combination of which produces multiple metabolic pathways. This paper analyzes biomimetically reconstructed coupled autocatalytic cycles as the basis of ancestral metabolic systems. The mechanism for natural selection and evolution in autocatalytic chemical systems may be affected by natural homeostatic parameters such as ambient chemical potentials, temperature, and pressure. Competition between separate parts of an autocatalytic network with positive-plus-negative feedback resulted in the formation of primordial autotrophic, mixotrophic, and heterotrophic metabolic systems. This work examined the last common ancestor of a set of coupled metabolic cycles in a population of protocells. Physical-chemical properties of these cycles determined the main principles of natural selection for the ancestral Bacteria and Archaea taxa.

Origin of self-replicating biopolymers: autocatalytic feedback can jump-start the RNA world

Life is based on biopolymers that have the ability to replicate themselves. Here we consider how a self-replicating RNA system may have originated. We consider a reaction system in which polymerization is possible by the addition of an activated monomer to the end of a chain. We suppose that a small fraction of polymers longer than some minimum length L have the ability to act as polymerase ribozymes. Polymerization can occur spontaneously at a slow rate and can also be catalyzed by polymerase ribozymes, if these ribozymes exist. The system contains autocatalytic feedback: increasing the polymerization rate causes the ribozyme concentration to increase, which causes the polymerization rate to further increase. For an infinite volume, the dynamics are deterministic. There are two stable states: a 'dead' state with a very low concentration of ribozymes and a polymerization rate almost equal to the spontaneous rate, and a 'living' state with a high concentration of ribozymes and a high rate of polymerization occurring via ribozyme catalysis. In a finite volume, such as the interior of a lipid vesicle or other small compartment, the reaction dynamics is stochastic and concentration fluctuations can occur. Using a stochastic simulation, we show that if a small number of ribozymes is initially formed spontaneously, this can be enough to drive the system from the dead to the living state where ribozyme-catalyzed synthesis of large numbers of additional ribozymes occurs. This transition occurs most easily in volumes of intermediate size.

The parageneses thermodynamic analysis of chemoautotrophic CO2 fixation archaic cycle components, their stability and self-organization in hydrothermal systems

The parageneses physico-chemical analysis based on a method of thermodynamic potentials has been used to study the system of C-H-O organic compounds, which are, in particular, components of biomimetically built primordial cycles of carbon dioxide chemoautotrophic fixation. Thermodynamic data for aqueous organic compounds allowed one to construct the chemical potential diagrams and establish the areas of thermodynamic stability (facies) of components of CO2 fixation pathways in hydrothermal systems, in particular, a reductive citric cycle (RCC), 3-hydroxypropionate cycle (3-HPC) and acetyl-CoA pathway. An alternative deep source of carbon (hydrocarbons) proved by the data on endogenous emission of hydrocarbons in hydrothermal fields of oceanic ridges was suggested. The system was determined, which combines hydrocarbons, CO2 and components of RCC, 3-HPC and acetyl-CoA pathway with characteristic parageneses of methane and ethylene with acetate in two-component CH4-CO2 and C2H4-O2 subsystems, respectively. The thermodynamic analysis of a redox mode at various pressures and temperatures allowed one to uniquely determine hydrocarbon-organic system able to independently generate acetate and succinate at oxidation of deep hydrothermal hydrocarbon fluids emerging on sea surface. The limits for thermodynamic stability of CO2 archaic fixation (CAF) components responsible for generation and self-organization in hydrothermal environment was identified. The tentative integrated system of CAF was developed as a combined acetyl-CoA pathway, 3-HPC and RCC containing a succinate-fumarate core, capable of switching electron flow in forward or reverse direction depending on redox potential of geochemical environment that is governed by the (CH)2(COOH)2+H2=(CH2)2(COOH)2 reaction. This core is a "redox switch", which is sensitive to certain conditions of hydrothermal environment and defines electron flow direction. The redox geochemical mode caused by temperature, pressure, composition of a hydrothermal fluid and a mineralogical setting defines stability of CAF cycle components in paragenesis with hydrocarbons and possibility of cycle self-organization.

The influence of environmental conditions, lipid composition, and phase behavior on the origin of cell membranes

At some point in life's development, membranes formed, providing barriers between the environment and the interior of the 'cell.' This paper evaluates the research to date on the prebiotic origin of cell membranes and highlights possible areas of continuing study. A careful review of the literature uncovered unexpected factors that influence membrane evolution. The major stages in primitive membrane formation and the transition to contemporary cell membranes appear to require an exacting relationship between environmental conditions and amphiphile composition and phase behavior. Also, environmental and compositional requirements for individual stages are in some instances incompatible with one another, potentially stultifying the pathway to contemporary membranes. Previous studies in membrane evolution have noted the effects composition and environment have on membrane formation but the crucial dependence and interdependence on these two factors has not been emphasized. This review makes clear the need to focus future investigations away from proof-of-principle studies towards developing a better understanding of the roles that environmental factors and lipid composition and polymorphic phase behavior played in the origin and evolution of cell membranes.

Small molecule interactions were central to the origin of life

Many scientists believe life began with the spontaneous formation of a replicator. This idea has been supported by "prebiotic" syntheses carried out by chemists using modern apparatus and purified reagents. The probability that such reactions would take place spontaneously on the early Earth is minute. These points are illustrated here by considering the often cited oligomerization of activated RNA components by clay minerals. A more likely alternative for the origin of life is one in which a collection of small organic molecules multiply their numbers through catalyzed reaction cycles, driven by a flow of available free energy. Although a number of possible systems of this type have been discussed, no experimental demonstration has been made. The inclusion of a "driver" reaction, directly coupled to the energy source, may lead to a solution.

The place of metabolism in the origin of life

Metabolism and replication are generally considered essential features of biological life. Workers in the field of the origin of life are mostly split into two groups, depending on which of these two functions is postulated to have occurred first. Because of difficulties encountered by the replication-first (or genetics-first) approach, some workers have postulated that a highly developed metabolism must have originated before replication and the formation of a genetic apparatus. However, as supporters of a replication-first approach have pointed out, and as is discussed in this article, the alternative metabolism-first approach has fundamental problems that have not been sufficiently addressed.