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Helmbrecht V, Weingart M, Klein F, Braun D, Orsi WD. White and green rust chimneys accumulate RNA in a ferruginous chemical garden. GEOBIOLOGY 2023; 21:758-769. [PMID: 37615250 DOI: 10.1111/gbi.12572] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/24/2023] [Revised: 07/17/2023] [Accepted: 08/12/2023] [Indexed: 08/25/2023]
Abstract
Mechanisms of nucleic acid accumulation were likely critical to life's emergence in the ferruginous oceans of the early Earth. How exactly prebiotic geological settings accumulated nucleic acids from dilute aqueous solutions, is poorly understood. As a possible solution to this concentration problem, we simulated the conditions of prebiotic low-temperature alkaline hydrothermal vents in co-precipitation experiments to investigate the potential of ferruginous chemical gardens to accumulate nucleic acids via sorption. The injection of an alkaline solution into an artificial ferruginous solution under anoxic conditions (O2 < 0.01% of present atmospheric levels) and at ambient temperatures, caused the precipitation of amakinite ("white rust"), which quickly converted to chloride-containing fougerite ("green rust"). RNA was only extractable from the ferruginous solution in the presence of a phosphate buffer, suggesting RNA in solution was bound to Fe2+ ions. During chimney formation, this iron-bound RNA rapidly accumulated in the white and green rust chimney structure from the surrounding ferruginous solution at the fastest rates in the initial white rust phase and correspondingly slower rates in the following green rust phase. This represents a new mechanism for nucleic acid accumulation in the ferruginous oceans of the early Earth, in addition to wet-dry cycles and may have helped to concentrate RNA in a dilute prebiotic ocean.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vanessa Helmbrecht
- Department for Geo- and Environmental Sciences, Palaeontology & Geobiology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Munich, Germany
| | - Maximilian Weingart
- Systems Biophysics, Faculty of Physics, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Munich, Germany
| | - Frieder Klein
- Department of Marine Chemistry and Geochemistry, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, Massachusetts, USA
| | - Dieter Braun
- Systems Biophysics, Faculty of Physics, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Munich, Germany
| | - William D Orsi
- Department for Geo- and Environmental Sciences, Palaeontology & Geobiology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Munich, Germany
- GeoBio-CenterLMU, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany
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Weingart M, Chen S, Donat C, Helmbrecht V, Orsi WD, Braun D, Alim K. Alkaline vents recreated in two dimensions to study pH gradients, precipitation morphology, and molecule accumulation. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2023; 9:eadi1884. [PMID: 37774032 PMCID: PMC10541008 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adi1884] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/24/2023] [Accepted: 08/30/2023] [Indexed: 10/01/2023]
Abstract
Alkaline vents (AVs) are hypothesized to have been a setting for the emergence of life, by creating strong gradients across inorganic membranes within chimney structures. In the past, three-dimensional chimney structures were formed under laboratory conditions; however, no in situ visualization or testing of the gradients was possible. We develop a quasi-two-dimensional microfluidic model of AVs that allows spatiotemporal visualization of mineral precipitation in low-volume experiments. Upon injection of an alkaline fluid into an acidic, iron-rich solution, we observe a diverse set of precipitation morphologies, mainly controlled by flow rate and ion concentration. Using microscope imaging and pH-dependent dyes, we show that finger-like precipitates can facilitate formation and maintenance of microscale pH gradients and accumulation of dispersed particles in confined geometries. Our findings establish a model to investigate the potential of gradients across a semipermeable boundary for early compartmentalization, accumulation, and chemical reactions at the origins of life.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maximilian Weingart
- Systems Biophysics and Center for NanoScience (CeNS), Ludwig-Maximilians University Munich, Amalienstraße 54, 80799 München, Germany
| | - Siyu Chen
- Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization, Am Faßberg 17, 37077 Göttingen, Germany
| | - Clara Donat
- TUM School of Natural Sciences, Department of Bioscience; Center for Protein Assemblies (CPA), Technical University of Munich, Ernst-Otto-Fischer-Str. 8, 85748 Garching b. München, Germany
| | - Vanessa Helmbrecht
- Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Ludwig-Maximilians University Munich, Richard-Wagner Straße 10, 80333 München, Germany
| | - William D. Orsi
- Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Ludwig-Maximilians University Munich, Richard-Wagner Straße 10, 80333 München, Germany
- GeoBio-CenterLMU, Ludwig-Maximilians University Munich, Richard-Wagner Straße 10, 80333 München, Germany
| | - Dieter Braun
- Systems Biophysics and Center for NanoScience (CeNS), Ludwig-Maximilians University Munich, Amalienstraße 54, 80799 München, Germany
| | - Karen Alim
- Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization, Am Faßberg 17, 37077 Göttingen, Germany
- TUM School of Natural Sciences, Department of Bioscience; Center for Protein Assemblies (CPA), Technical University of Munich, Ernst-Otto-Fischer-Str. 8, 85748 Garching b. München, Germany
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Lerin-Morales KM, Olguín LF, Mateo-Martí E, Colín-García M. Prebiotic Chemistry Experiments Using Microfluidic Devices. Life (Basel) 2022; 12:life12101665. [PMID: 36295100 PMCID: PMC9605377 DOI: 10.3390/life12101665] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/30/2022] [Revised: 10/15/2022] [Accepted: 10/18/2022] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Microfluidic devices are small tools mostly consisting of one or more channels, with dimensions between one and hundreds of microns, where small volumes of fluids are manipulated. They have extensive use in the biomedical and chemical fields; however, in prebiotic chemistry, they only have been employed recently. In prebiotic chemistry, just three types of microfluidic devices have been used: the first ones are Y-form devices with laminar co-flow, used to study the precipitation of minerals in hydrothermal vents systems; the second ones are microdroplet devices that can form small droplets capable of mimic cellular compartmentalization; and the last ones are devices with microchambers that recreate the microenvironment inside rock pores under hydrothermal conditions. In this review, we summarized the experiments in the field of prebiotic chemistry that employed microfluidic devices. The main idea is to incentivize their use and discuss their potential to perform novel experiments that could contribute to unraveling some prebiotic chemistry questions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Karen Melissa Lerin-Morales
- Posgrado en Ciencias de la Tierra, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad de Mexico 04510, Mexico
- Correspondence: (K.M.L.-M.); (M.C.-G.); Tel.: +52-(55)-5622-4300 (ext. 164) (M.C.-G.)
| | - Luis F. Olguín
- Laboratorio de Biofisicoquímica, Facultad de Química, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad de Mexico 04510, Mexico
| | - Eva Mateo-Martí
- Centro de Astrobiología (CAB), CSIC-INTA, Carretera de Ajalvir Km 4, Torrejón de Ardoz, 28850 Madrid, Spain
| | - María Colín-García
- Instituto de Geología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad de Mexico 04510, Mexico
- Correspondence: (K.M.L.-M.); (M.C.-G.); Tel.: +52-(55)-5622-4300 (ext. 164) (M.C.-G.)
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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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Altair T, Galante D, Varela H. Voltammetric investigation on iron-(nickel-)sulfur surface under conditions for the emergence of life. IOP SCINOTES 2022. [DOI: 10.1088/2633-1357/ac79e7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Abstract
Iron (II) sulfide minerals have gained attention in the last decades due to their relevance in hypotheses for the emergence of life on the early Earth around 4 billion years ago. In the submarine vent theory, it has been proposed that those minerals, especially mackinawite, had a key role in prebiotic processes. Those are estimated to be present in a natural electrochemical setting, analogous to a chemiosmotic one, formed in the interface between the early ocean and the interior of the alkaline hydrothermal systems, the early vent-ocean interface. To evaluate this and other hypotheses, voltammetric studies were performed to better understand the electrochemical behavior of minerals under conditions analogous to the vent-ocean interface. The preliminary results presented here indicate that, in the potential range estimated to exist in that interface, mackinawite can transition to other mineral phases and may posibly coexist with other minerals, resulting from its oxidation. This can create a local chemical diversity. In addition, it has been tested a protocol for Ni incorporation in mackinawite structure, resulting in a surface that showed an interesting behavior in the presence of CO2, although definitive experiments showed necessary for a deeper comprehension of that behavior. Overall, the results are consistent with previous results on electrocatalytical properties of Fe-Ni-S materials for CO2 reduction, and also could lead to the emergence of a protometabolism on early Earth.
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