Hydrothermal Chemistry and the Origin of Cellular Life

Deamer, David W.; Damer, Bruce; Kompanichenko, Vladimir

doi:10.1089/ast.2018.1979

Cited by 78 publications

(87 citation statements)

References 43 publications

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“…Other forms of self-assembly may support key processes in prebiotic chemistry such as the emergence of homochirality or the purification of polymers (Budin and Szostak, 2010). The results are not only confined to laboratory conditions but have also been demonstrated in hot spring analogs of the early Earth (Milshteyn et al, 2018;Deamer et al, 2019).…”

Section: Comparative Environments For An Origin Of Lifementioning

confidence: 93%

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The Hot Spring Hypothesis for an Origin of Life

2020

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We present a testable hypothesis related to an origin of life on land in which fluctuating volcanic hot spring pools play a central role. The hypothesis is based on experimental evidence that lipid-encapsulated polymers can be synthesized by cycles of hydration and dehydration to form protocells. Drawing on metaphors from the bootstrapping of a simple computer operating system, we show how protocells cycling through wet, dry, and moist phases will subject polymers to combinatorial selection and draw structural and catalytic functions out of initially random sequences, including structural stabilization, pore formation, and primitive metabolic activity. We propose that protocells aggregating into a hydrogel in the intermediate moist phase of wet-dry cycles represent a primitive progenote system. Progenote populations can undergo selection and distribution, construct niches in new environments, and enable a sharing network effect that can collectively evolve them into the first microbial communities. Laboratory and field experiments testing the first steps of the scenario are summarized. The scenario is then placed in a geological setting on the early Earth to suggest a plausible pathway from life's origin in chemically optimal freshwater hot spring pools to the emergence of microbial communities tolerant to more extreme conditions in dilute lakes and salty conditions in marine environments. A continuity is observed for biogenesis beginning with simple protocell aggregates, through the transitional form of the progenote, to robust microbial mats that leave the fossil imprints of stromatolites so representative in the rock record. A roadmap to future testing of the hypothesis is presented. We compare the oceanic vent with land-based pool scenarios for an origin of life and explore their implications for subsequent evolution to multicellular life such as plants. We conclude by utilizing the hypothesis to posit where life might also have emerged in habitats such as Mars or Saturn's icy moon Enceladus. Key Words: Origin of life-Prebiotic chemistry-Hydrothermal systems-Protocells-Progenotes-Microbial communities. Astrobiology 20, 429-452. ''To postulate one fortuitously catalyzed reaction, perhaps catalyzed by a metal ion, might be reasonable, but to postulate a suite of them is to appeal to magic.''

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Section: Comparative Environments For An Origin Of Lifementioning

confidence: 93%

“…The hypothesis we are presenting here has a number of advantages in common with other proposals, and also has some novel and possibly essential additional features. A key strength is the empirical foundation and weight of evidence that emerged over the past decade (see Deamer et al, 2019).…”

Section: Comparative Environments For An Origin Of Lifementioning

confidence: 99%

The Hot Spring Hypothesis for an Origin of Life

2020

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“…These results are interesting as hot springs may sustain diverse microbial communities and preserve fossilized structures . Moreover, hydrothermal vents in seawater would have supported prebiotic scenarios as hot springs with ionic solutes are more conducive to self‐assembly leading to protocells …”

Section: Back To the Future: Biogenicitymentioning

confidence: 95%

Chasing Synthetic Life: A Tale of Forms, Chemical Fossils, and Biomorphs

Cintas

2020

Angewandte Chemie

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This Essay focuses briefly on early studies elaborated by natural and chemical philosophers, and the once‐called synthetic biologists, who postulated the transition from inanimate to animate matter and even foresaw the possibility of creating artificial life on the basis of physical and chemical principles only. Such ideas and speculations, ranging from soundness to weirdness, paved however the way to current developments in areas like abiotic pattern formation, cell compartmentalization, biomineralization, or the origin of life itself. In particular, the generation of biomorphs and their relationship to microfossils represents an active research domain and seems to be the logical way to bring the historical work up to the future, as some scientists are trying to make artificial cells. The last sections of this essay will also highlight modern science aimed at understanding what life is and, whether or not, it can be redefined in chemical terms.

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“…Although the experimental evidence is consistent with short oligomers being formed during wet-dry cycling 9,[15][16][17]19 , the structure of the oligomers is unknown. We 75 therefore employed atomic force microscopy (AFM) to visualize the products at single molecule resolution.…”

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confidence: 88%

Viroid-sized rings self-assemble from mononucleotides through wet-dry cycling: implications for the origin of life

Hassenkam

Damer

Mednick

et al. 2020

Preprint

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It is possible that early life relied on RNA polymers that served as ribozyme-like catalysts and store genetic information 1,2 . The source of such polymers is uncertain, but previous investigations reported that wet-dry cycles simulating prebiotic hot 20 springs provide sufficient energy to drive condensation reactions of mononucleotides to form oligomers 3 . The aim of the study reported here was to visualize the products by atomic force microscopy. In addition to globular oligomers, ring-like structures ranging from 10-200 nm in diameter with an average around 30-40 nm were abundant, particularly when nucleotides capable of base pairing were present. The 25 thickness of the rings was consistent with single stranded products, but some had thicknesses indicating base pair stacking. Others had more complex structures in the form of short polymer attachments and pairing of rings. These observations suggest the possibility that template-directed synthesis may occur during wet-dry cycling followed by solvation of the rings. We conclude that RNA-like rings and structures 30 could have been synthesized non-enzymatically on the prebiotic Earth with sizes sufficient to fold into ribozymes and genetic molecules required for life to begin.

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Hydrothermal Chemistry and the Origin of Cellular Life

Cited by 78 publications

References 43 publications

The Hot Spring Hypothesis for an Origin of Life

The Hot Spring Hypothesis for an Origin of Life

Chasing Synthetic Life: A Tale of Forms, Chemical Fossils, and Biomorphs

Viroid-sized rings self-assemble from mononucleotides through wet-dry cycling: implications for the origin of life

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