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Rimmer PB, Shorttle O. A Surface Hydrothermal Source of Nitriles and Isonitriles. Life (Basel) 2024; 14:498. [PMID: 38672768 PMCID: PMC11051382 DOI: 10.3390/life14040498] [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: 02/15/2024] [Revised: 03/22/2024] [Accepted: 03/29/2024] [Indexed: 04/28/2024] Open
Abstract
Giant impacts can generate transient hydrogen-rich atmospheres, reducing atmospheric carbon. The reduced carbon will form hazes that rain out onto the surface and can become incorporated into the crust. Once heated, a large fraction of the carbon is converted into graphite. The result is that local regions of the Hadean crust were plausibly saturated with graphite. We explore the consequences of such a crust for a prebiotic surface hydrothermal vent scenario. We model a surface vent fed by nitrogen-rich volcanic gas from high-temperature magmas passing through graphite-saturated crust. We consider this occurring at pressures of 1-1000bar and temperatures of 1500-1700 ∘C. The equilibrium with graphite purifies the leftover gas, resulting in substantial quantities of nitriles (0.1% HCN and 1ppm HC3N) and isonitriles (0.01% HNC) relevant for prebiotic chemistry. We use these results to predict gas-phase concentrations of methyl isocyanide of ∼1 ppm. Methyl isocyanide can participate in the non-enzymatic activation and ligation of the monomeric building blocks of life, and surface or shallow hydrothermal environments provide its only known equilibrium geochemical source.
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Affiliation(s)
- Paul B. Rimmer
- Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge, JJ Thomson Ave, Cambridge CB3 0HE, UK
| | - Oliver Shorttle
- Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB3 0HA, UK
- Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EQ, UK
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2
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Aleksandrova M, Rahmatova F, Russell DA, Bonfio C. Ring Opening of Glycerol Cyclic Phosphates Leads to a Diverse Array of Potentially Prebiotic Phospholipids. J Am Chem Soc 2023; 145:25614-25620. [PMID: 37971368 PMCID: PMC10690765 DOI: 10.1021/jacs.3c07319] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/10/2023] [Revised: 10/31/2023] [Accepted: 11/01/2023] [Indexed: 11/19/2023]
Abstract
Phospholipids are the primary constituents of cell membranes across all domains of life, but how and when phospholipids appeared on early Earth remains unknown. Pressingly, most prebiotic syntheses of complex phospholipids rely upon substrates not yet shown to have been available on early Earth. Here, we describe potentially prebiotic syntheses of a diverse array of complex phospholipids and their building blocks. First, we show that choline could have been produced on early Earth by stepwise N-methylation of ethanolamine. Second, taking a systems chemistry approach, we demonstrate that the intrinsically activated glycerol-2,3-cyclic phosphate undergoes ring opening with combinations of prebiotic amino alcohols to yield complex phospholipid headgroups. Importantly, this pathway selects for the formation of 2-amino alcohol-bearing phospholipid headgroups and enables the accumulation of their natural regioisomers. Finally, we show that the dry-state ring opening of cyclic lysophosphatidic acids leads to a range of self-assembling lysophospholipids. Our results provide new prebiotic routes to key intermediates on the way toward modern phospholipids and illuminate the potential origin and evolution of cell membranes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maiia Aleksandrova
- Institut de Science et d’Ingénierie
Supramoléculaires (ISIS), CNRS UMR 7006, University of Strasbourg, 8 Allée Gaspard Monge, 67000 Strasbourg, France
| | - Fidan Rahmatova
- Institut de Science et d’Ingénierie
Supramoléculaires (ISIS), CNRS UMR 7006, University of Strasbourg, 8 Allée Gaspard Monge, 67000 Strasbourg, France
| | - David A. Russell
- Institut de Science et d’Ingénierie
Supramoléculaires (ISIS), CNRS UMR 7006, University of Strasbourg, 8 Allée Gaspard Monge, 67000 Strasbourg, France
| | - Claudia Bonfio
- Institut de Science et d’Ingénierie
Supramoléculaires (ISIS), CNRS UMR 7006, University of Strasbourg, 8 Allée Gaspard Monge, 67000 Strasbourg, France
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3
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Armas-Vázquez MZ, González-Espinoza CE, Segura A, Heredia A, Miranda-Rosete A. Impact of M Dwarfs Ultraviolet Radiation on Prebiotic Chemistry: The Case of Adenine. ASTROBIOLOGY 2023; 23:705-722. [PMID: 37115581 DOI: 10.1089/ast.2022.0050] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/27/2023]
Abstract
To date, several exoplanets have been found to orbit within the habitable zone of main sequence M stars (M dwarfs). These stars exhibit different levels of chromospheric activity that produces ultraviolet (UV) radiation. UV may be harmful to life, but it can also trigger reactions of prebiotic importance on the surface of a potentially habitable planet (PHP). We created a code to obtain the adenine yield for a known adenine synthesis route from diaminomaleonitrile (DAMN). We used computational methods to calculate the reaction coefficient rates (photolysis rate J and rate constant K) for the intermediate molecules DAMN, diaminofumaronitrile (DAFN), and 4-aminoimidazole-5-carbonitrile (AICN) of the adenine synthesis route. We used stellar UV sources and a mercury lamp to compare the theoretical results with experiments performed with lamps. The surface UV flux of planets in the habitable zone of two active M dwarfs (Proxima Centauri and AD Leonis) and the prebiotic Earth was calculated using the photochemical model ATMOS, considering a CO2-N2-H2O atmosphere. We obtained UV absorption coefficients for DAMN and DAFN and thermodynamic parameters that are useful for prebiotic chemistry studies. According to our results, experiments using UV lamps may underestimate the photolysis production of molecules of prebiotic importance. Our results indicate that photolysis reactions are fast with a yield of 50% of AICN in 10 s for the young Sun and ∼1 h for Proxima Centauri b. Planets around active M dwarfs may provide the most favorable environment for UV-mediated production of compounds relevant to the origins of life. The kinetic reaction AICN + HCN adenine is the bottleneck of the pathway with reaction rates <10-22 L/(mol·s).
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Affiliation(s)
- M Zulema Armas-Vázquez
- Instituto de Ciencias Nucleares, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Ciudad de Mexico, Mexico
| | | | - Antígona Segura
- Instituto de Ciencias Nucleares, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Ciudad de Mexico, Mexico
| | - Alejandro Heredia
- Instituto de Ciencias Nucleares, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Ciudad de Mexico, Mexico
| | - Arturo Miranda-Rosete
- Instituto de Ciencias Nucleares, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Ciudad de Mexico, Mexico
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Root-Bernstein R, Brown AW. Novel Apparatuses for Incorporating Natural Selection Processes into Origins-of-Life Experiments to Produce Adaptively Evolving Chemical Ecosystems. Life (Basel) 2022; 12:life12101508. [PMID: 36294944 PMCID: PMC9605314 DOI: 10.3390/life12101508] [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: 09/07/2022] [Revised: 09/22/2022] [Accepted: 09/24/2022] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Origins-of-life chemical experiments usually aim to produce specific chemical end-products such as amino acids, nucleic acids or sugars. The resulting chemical systems do not evolve or adapt because they lack natural selection processes. We have modified Miller origins-of-life apparatuses to incorporate several natural, prebiotic physicochemical selection factors that can be tested individually or in tandem: freezing-thawing cycles; drying-wetting cycles; ultraviolet light-dark cycles; and catalytic surfaces such as clays or minerals. Each process is already known to drive important origins-of-life chemical reactions such as the production of peptides and synthesis of nucleic acid bases and each can also destroy various reactants and products, resulting selection within the chemical system. No previous apparatus has permitted all of these selection processes to work together. Continuous synthesis and selection of products can be carried out over many months because the apparatuses can be re-gassed. Thus, long-term chemical evolution of chemical ecosystems under various combinations of natural selection may be explored for the first time. We argue that it is time to begin experimenting with the long-term effects of such prebiotic natural selection processes because they may have aided biotic life to emerge by taming the combinatorial chemical explosion that results from unbounded chemical syntheses.
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Affiliation(s)
- Robert Root-Bernstein
- Department of Physiology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA
- Correspondence:
| | - Adam W. Brown
- Department of Art, Art History and Design, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA
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Naranjo D. A scenario for the origin of life: Volume regulation by bacteriorhodopsin required extremely voltage sensitive Na‐channels and very selective K‐channels. Bioessays 2022; 44:e2100210. [DOI: 10.1002/bies.202100210] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/03/2021] [Revised: 07/20/2022] [Accepted: 07/21/2022] [Indexed: 12/25/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- David Naranjo
- Instituto de Neurociencia, Facultad de Ciencias Universidad de Valparaíso Playa Ancha Valparaíso Chile
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Martínez RF, Cuccia LA, Viedma C, Cintas P. On the Origin of Sugar Handedness: Facts, Hypotheses and Missing Links-A Review. ORIGINS LIFE EVOL B 2022; 52:21-56. [PMID: 35796896 DOI: 10.1007/s11084-022-09624-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/05/2022] [Accepted: 05/24/2022] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
By paraphrasing one of Kipling's most amazing short stories (How the Leopard Got His Spots), this article could be entitled "How Sugars Became Homochiral". Obviously, we have no answer to this still unsolved mystery, and this perspective simply brings recent models, experiments and hypotheses into the homochiral homogeneity of sugars on earth. We shall revisit the past and current understanding of sugar chirality in the context of prebiotic chemistry, with attention to recent developments and insights. Different scenarios and pathways will be discussed, from the widely known formose-type processes to less familiar ones, often viewed as unorthodox chemical routes. In particular, problems associated with the spontaneous generation of enantiomeric imbalances and the transfer of chirality will be tackled. As carbohydrates are essential components of all cellular systems, astrochemical and terrestrial observations suggest that saccharides originated from environmentally available feedstocks. Such substances would have been capable of sustaining autotrophic and heterotrophic mechanisms integrating nutrients, metabolism and the genome after compartmentalization. Recent findings likewise indicate that sugars' enantiomeric bias may have emerged by a transfer of chirality mechanisms, rather than by deracemization of sugar backbones, yet providing an evolutionary advantage that fueled the cellular machinery.
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Affiliation(s)
- R Fernando Martínez
- Departamento de Química Orgánica E Inorgánica, Facultad de Ciencias, and Instituto Universitario de Investigación del Agua, Cambio Climático Y Sostenibilidad, (IACYS), Universidad de Extremadura, Avenida de Elvas s/n, 06006, Badajoz, Spain.
| | - Louis A Cuccia
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Quebec Centre for Advanced Materials (QCAM/CQMF), FRQNT, Concordia University, 7141 Sherbrooke St. West, Montreal, QC, H4B 1R6, Canada
| | - Cristóbal Viedma
- Department of Crystallography and Mineralogy, University Complutense, 28040, Madrid, Spain
| | - Pedro Cintas
- Departamento de Química Orgánica E Inorgánica, Facultad de Ciencias, and Instituto Universitario de Investigación del Agua, Cambio Climático Y Sostenibilidad, (IACYS), Universidad de Extremadura, Avenida de Elvas s/n, 06006, Badajoz, Spain.
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7
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Ranjan S, Kufner CL, Lozano GG, Todd ZR, Haseki A, Sasselov DD. UV Transmission in Natural Waters on Prebiotic Earth. ASTROBIOLOGY 2022; 22:242-262. [PMID: 34939825 PMCID: PMC8968845 DOI: 10.1089/ast.2020.2422] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/17/2020] [Accepted: 09/28/2021] [Indexed: 05/10/2023]
Abstract
Ultraviolet (UV) light plays a key role in surficial theories of the origin of life, and numerous studies have focused on constraining the atmospheric transmission of UV radiation on early Earth. However, the UV transmission of the natural waters in which origins-of-life chemistry (prebiotic chemistry) is postulated to have occurred is poorly constrained. In this work, we combine laboratory and literature-derived absorption spectra of potential aqueous-phase prebiotic UV absorbers with literature estimates of their concentrations on early Earth to constrain the prebiotic UV environment in marine and terrestrial natural waters, and we consider the implications for prebiotic chemistry. We find that prebiotic freshwaters were largely transparent in the UV, contrary to assumptions in some models of prebiotic chemistry. Some waters, such as high-salinity waters like carbonate lakes, may be deficient in shortwave (≤220 nm) UV flux. More dramatically, ferrous waters can be strongly UV-shielded, particularly if the Fe2+ forms highly UV-absorbent species such as F e C N 6 4 - . Such waters may be compelling venues for UV-averse origin-of-life scenarios but are unfavorable for some UV-dependent prebiotic chemistries. UV light can trigger photochemistry even if attenuated through photochemical transformations of the absorber (e.g., e a q - production from halide irradiation), which may have both constructive and destructive effects for prebiotic syntheses. Prebiotic chemistries that invoke waters that contain such absorbers must self-consistently account for the chemical effects of these transformations. The speciation and abundance of Fe2+ in natural waters on early Earth is a major uncertainty and should be prioritized for further investigation, as it played a major role in UV transmission in prebiotic natural waters.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sukrit Ranjan
- Department of Earth, Atmospheric & Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Center for Interdisciplinary Exploration and Research in Astrophysics, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, USA
- Blue Marble Space Institute of Science, Seattle, Washington, USA
| | - Corinna L. Kufner
- Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
| | | | - Zoe R. Todd
- Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
- Department of Earth and Space Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA
| | - Azra Haseki
- Department of Earth, Atmospheric & Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
- Harvard College, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
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8
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Liu Z, Wu LF, Kufner CL, Sasselov DD, Fischer WW, Sutherland JD. Prebiotic photoredox synthesis from carbon dioxide and sulfite. Nat Chem 2021; 13:1126-1132. [PMID: 34635812 PMCID: PMC7611910 DOI: 10.1038/s41557-021-00789-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/02/2021] [Accepted: 08/17/2021] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Carbon dioxide (CO2) is the major carbonaceous component of many planetary atmospheres, which includes the Earth throughout its history. Carbon fixation chemistry-which reduces CO2 to organics, utilizing hydrogen as the stoichiometric reductant-usually requires high pressures and temperatures, and the yields of products of potential use to nascent biology are low. Here we demonstrate an efficient ultraviolet photoredox chemistry between CO2 and sulfite that generates organics and sulfate. The chemistry is initiated by electron photodetachment from sulfite to give sulfite radicals and hydrated electrons, which reduce CO2 to its radical anion. A network of reactions that generates citrate, malate, succinate and tartrate by irradiation of glycolate in the presence of sulfite was also revealed. The simplicity of this carboxysulfitic chemistry and the widespread occurrence and abundance of its feedstocks suggest that it could have readily taken place on the surfaces of rocky planets. The availability of the carboxylate products on early Earth could have driven the development of central carbon metabolism before the advent of biological CO2 fixation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ziwei Liu
- MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Cambridge, UK
| | - Long-Fei Wu
- MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Cambridge, UK
| | - Corinna L Kufner
- Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Massachusetts, MA, USA
| | | | - Woodward W Fischer
- Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA
| | - John D Sutherland
- MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Cambridge, UK.
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Walton CR, Shorttle O. Scum of the Earth: A Hypothesis for Prebiotic Multi-Compartmentalised Environments. Life (Basel) 2021; 11:life11090976. [PMID: 34575124 PMCID: PMC8472051 DOI: 10.3390/life11090976] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/15/2021] [Revised: 09/04/2021] [Accepted: 09/14/2021] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Compartmentalisation by bioenergetic membranes is a universal feature of life. The eventual compartmentalisation of prebiotic systems is therefore often argued to comprise a key step during the origin of life. Compartments may have been active participants in prebiotic chemistry, concentrating and spatially organising key reactants. However, most prebiotically plausible compartments are leaky or unstable, limiting their utility. Here, we develop a new hypothesis for an origin of life environment that capitalises upon, and mitigates the limitations of, prebiotic compartments: multi-compartmentalised layers in the near surface environment—a ’scum’. Scum-type environments benefit from many of the same ensemble-based advantages as microbial biofilms. In particular, scum layers mediate diffusion with the wider environments, favouring preservation and sharing of early informational molecules, along with the selective concentration of compatible prebiotic compounds. Biofilms are among the earliest traces imprinted by life in the rock record: we contend that prebiotic equivalents of these environments deserve future experimental investigation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Craig Robert Walton
- Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EQ, UK
- Correspondence:
| | - Oliver Shorttle
- Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EQ, UK
- Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB3 OHA, UK;
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