Combining thermal hydrolysis and methylation-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry with X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy to characterise complex organic assemblages in geological material

The origin of life required membrane-bound compartments to allow the separation and concentration of internal biochemistry from the external environment and establish energy-harnessing ion gradients. Long-chain amphiphilic molecules, such as fatty acids, appear strong candidates to have formed the first cell membranes although how they were first generated remains unclear. Here we show that the reaction of dissolved hydrogen and bicarbonate with the iron-rich mineral magnetite under conditions of continuous flow, alkaline pH and relatively low temperatures (90 °C) generate a range of functionalised long-chain aliphatic compounds, including mixed fatty acids up to 18 carbon atoms in length. Readily generated membrane-forming amphiphilic organic molecules in the first cellular life may have been driven by similar chemistry generated from the mixing of bicarbonate-rich water (equilibrated with a carbon dioxide-enriched atmosphere) with alkaline hydrogen-rich fluids fed by the serpentinisation of the Earth’s iron-rich early crust.

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Combining thermal hydrolysis and methylation-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry with X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy to characterise complex organic assemblages in geological material

Abstract: Graphical abstract

Cited by 2 publications

References 16 publications

A comparison of the molecular composition of plant and fungal structural biopolymer standards with the organic material in early cretaceous Ontong Java Plateau Tuff

A comparison of the molecular composition of plant and fungal structural biopolymer standards with the organic material in early cretaceous Ontong Java Plateau Tuff

Generation of long-chain fatty acids by hydrogen-driven bicarbonate reduction in ancient alkaline hydrothermal vents

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