Abstract
In 2001, the first author (S.N.) led the publication of a book entitled “Geochemistry and the origin of life” in collaboration with Dr. Andre Brack aiming to figure out geo- and astro-chemical processes essential for the emergence of life. Since then, a great number of research progress has been achieved in the relevant topics from our group and others, ranging from the extraterrestrial inputs of life’s building blocks, the chemical evolution on Earth with the aid of mineral catalysts, to the fossilized records of ancient microorganisms. Here, in addition to summarizing these findings for the origin and early evolution of life, we propose a new hypothesis for the generation and co-evolution of photosynthesis with the redox and photochemical conditions on the Earth’s surface. Besides these bottom-up approaches, we introduce an experimental study on the role of water molecules in the life’s function, focusing on the transition from live, dormant, and dead states through dehydration/hydration. Further spectroscopic studies on the hydrogen bonding behaviors of water molecules in living cells will provide important clues to solve the complex nature of life.
Highlights
Life is generally characterized by the following three functions [1]: (1) metabolism: the ability to capture energy and material resources, staying away from thermodynamic equilibrium, (2) replication: the ability to process and transmit heritable information to progeny, and (3) compartmentalization: the ability to keep its components together and distinguish itself from the environment
By combining experimentally determined adsorption constants of lysine and its dimer on amorphous silica with thermodynamic data of these organic compounds in water reported in the literature [78], it was predicted that a silica surface favors lysine dimerization, at alkaline pH and lower ionic strength (1mM NaCl)
X-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES) spectroscopy was applied to Apex and Gunflint carbonaceous matter [140] and Gunflint microfossils [141]. They revealed the presence of COOH and aromatic COH components in Apex and Gunflint organic matter [140], and the presence of amide derived from protein in Gunflint microfossils [141]
Summary
Life is generally characterized by the following three functions [1]: (1) metabolism: the ability to capture energy and material resources, staying away from thermodynamic equilibrium, (2) replication: the ability to process and transmit heritable information to progeny, and (3) compartmentalization: the ability to keep its components together and distinguish itself from the environment. These functions are operated by biopolymers such as proteins, DNAs, RNAs, and phospholipids (Figure 1).
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