Geological and Chemical Factors that Impacted the Biological Utilization of Cobalt in the Archean Eon

Abstract

The geosphere and biosphere coevolved and influenced Earth's biological and mineralogical diversity. Changing redox conditions influenced the availability of different transition metals, which are essential components in the active sites of oxidoreductases, proteins that catalyze electron transfer reactions across the tree of life. Despite its relatively low abundance in the environment, cobalt (Co) is a unique metal in biology due to its importance to a wide range of organisms as the metal center of vitamin B12 (aka cobalamin, Cbl). Cbl is vital to multiple methyltransferase enzymes involved in energetically favorable metabolic pathways. It is unclear how Co availability is linked to mineral evolution and weathering processes. Here we examine important biological functions of Co, as well as chemical and geological factors that may have influenced the utilization of Co early in the evolution of life. Only 66 natural minerals are known to contain Co as an essential element. However, Co is incorporated as a minor element in abundant rock‐forming minerals, potentially representing a reliable source of Co as a trace element in marine systems due to weathering processes. We developed a mineral weathering model that indicates that dissolved Co was potentially more bioavailable in the Archean ocean under low S conditions than it is today. Mineral weathering, redox chemistry, Co complexation with nitrogen‐containing organics, and hydrothermal environments were crucial in the incorporation of Co in primitive metabolic pathways. These chemical and geological characteristics of Co can inform the biological utilization of other trace metals in early forms of life.

Metallomics in deep time and the influence of ocean chemistry on the metabolic landscapes of Earth’s earliest ecosystems

“…Our measured concentrations corroborate this: in the ambient environment, Cu, Zn and Mo are present in significantly lower concentrations than Fe, Ni and Co. Mo, Cu and Zn were, indeed, seemingly later (syn-GOE) additions to the metallome 61,65 , their importance to biology significantly post-dating the deposition of these rocks. Phylogenomic analyses of Archaean-representative prokaryotes suggest that their metal requirements were consistent with a ferro-sulphidic environment, for instance the necessity for Co 66,67 and a lacking requirement of Zn 64 , high Cu sensitivity and low metal tolerance in the absence of ferro-sulphidic conditions 20,64 . These expectations are also supported by our results; indeed, almost all expected metallic elements are enriched in both CM and the matrix relative to their concentrations in the modern oceans.…”

“…The sealing of surficial functional groups by silica during diagenesis 24,25 also inhibits metal uptake from the silicifying fluid. Coordination with aliphatic compounds or highly cyclised abiotic carbon produced by Fischer Tropsch-type and other wet hydrothermal reactions is, from the point of view of complexation, distinctly less favourable 66 . CM enriched in both hard and soft metals is thus consistent with biologically driven accumulation.…”

Microbial Community Responses to Vanadium Distributions in Mining Geological Environments and Bioremediation Assessment

“…Microorganisms perform vital functions in environmental ecosystems and are sensitive to environmental stress (Batson et al, ; Moore et al, ). Accumulated vanadium in such matrices can substantially alter microbial communities (Yang, Huang, et al, ).…”

Mineral Surface-Templated Self-Assembling Systems: Case Studies from Nanoscience and Surface Science towards Origins of Life Research

“…This binding could lead to a monolayer structure where most of the DNA is adhered to the surface, as opposed to magnesium-induced coiled DNA structures where much less of the DNA is adhered (but it is still immobilized) to the surface. In addition to cobalt cations, which could have been introduced (although perhaps not in high enough concentration to effect the structural changes described above) into prebiotic aqueous systems through weathering of cobalt-containing minerals [ 77 ], other more abundant prebiotic divalent cations that show a strong ability to promote DNA adsorption on mica include nickel and zinc. The ionic radii of these two divalent cations (similar to cobalt and magnesium; although the ionic radii of cobalt and magnesium cations are similar, magnesium cations do not contain any d electrons and are thus unable to form as many complexes as cobalt, explaining why cobalt has a greater affinity for mica than magnesium) are small enough to fit into mica cavities, resulting in a stronger adhesion of DNA to the mica surface [ 76 ].…”