Proton gradients at the origin of life

Lane, Nick

doi:10.1002/bies.201600217

Cited by 65 publications

(83 citation statements)

References 96 publications

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“…[18] In addition, the proton gradient is remarkably similar in both magnitude and polarity to those in modern autotrophic cells. [19] These vectorial features are maintained far from the equilibrium and likely have acted as the key energy source. In summary, alkaline hydrothermal vents could have served as a hatchery for simple organic molecules and a geochemical factory transforming them to molecules/systems of higher complexity, thus, providing at least some of the necessary conditions for the emergence of life.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Materials Synthesis and Catalysis in Microfluidic Devices: Prebiotic Chemistry in Mineral Membranes

Wang

Steinbock

2019

ChemCatChem

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The processes that led to the origins of life possibly occurred in the inorganic precipitate membranes of alkaline hydrothermal vents. These geochemical systems provide spatial confinement, cross‐membrane gradients, and catalytic surfaces. The experimental exploration of catalysis in these materials is challenging due to the vastness of the underlying parameter space and the need to maintain nonequilibrium conditions for long times. Microfluidic approaches offer an efficient solution to some of these problems by allowing the formation of mineral membranes at the interface of flowing reactant solutions and the control of steep gradients. In this minireview, we summarize recent progress in the production of mineral membranes using laminar microfluidic devices and discuss their catalytic properties in the context of prebiotic chemistry. Examples of catalytic reactions include the formation of pyrophosphate, peptides, and thioesters in precipitates containing iron, nickel, and calcium.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Materials Synthesis and Catalysis in Microfluidic Devices: Prebiotic Chemistry in Mineral Membranes

Wang

Steinbock

2019

ChemCatChem

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“…One energy-source hypothesis invokes marine vents and the pH difference between the vent fluid and the ambient ocean as the energy source (Martin and Russell, 2007;Martin et al, 2008;Russell, 2009, 2013;Russell and Hall, 2009;Lane et al, 2010;Russell et al, 2010Russell et al, , 2013Sousa et al, 2013;Sojo et al, 2014Sojo et al, , 2016Lane, 2017;cf. Jackson, 2016).…”

Section: Origin Of Life Within Marine Serpentinitementioning

confidence: 99%

Geological and Geochemical Constraints on the Origin and Evolution of Life

Sleep

2018

Astrobiology

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The traditional tree of life from molecular biology with last universal common ancestor (LUCA) branching into bacteria and archaea (though fuzzy) is likely formally valid enough to be a basis for discussion of geological processes on the early Earth. Biologists infer likely properties of nodal organisms within the tree and, hence, the environment they inhabited. Geologists both vet tenuous trees and putative origin of life scenarios for geological and ecological reasonability and conversely infer geological information from trees. The latter approach is valuable as geologists have only weakly constrained the time when the Earth became habitable and the later time when life actually existed to the long interval between ∼4.5 and ∼3.85 Ga where no intact surface rocks are known. With regard to vetting, origin and early evolution hypotheses from molecular biology have recently centered on serpentinite settings in marine and alternatively land settings that are exposed to ultraviolet sunlight. The existence of these niches on the Hadean Earth is virtually certain. With regard to inferring geological environment from genomics, nodes on the tree of life can arise from true bottlenecks implied by the marine serpentinite origin scenario and by asteroid impact. Innovation of a very useful trait through a threshold allows the successful organism to quickly become very abundant and later root a large clade. The origin of life itself, that is, the initial Darwinian ancestor, the bacterial and archaeal roots as free-living cellular organisms that independently escaped hydrothermal chimneys above marine serpentinite or alternatively from shallow pore-water environments on land, the Selabacteria root with anoxygenic photosynthesis, and the Terrabacteria root colonizing land are attractive examples that predate the geological record. Conversely, geological reasoning presents likely events for appraisal by biologists. Asteroid impacts may have produced bottlenecks by decimating life. Thermophile roots of bacteria and archaea as well as a thermophile LUCA are attractive.

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“…By contrast, Cu is an indispensable catalyst catabolically because cytochrome c oxidase–the last enzyme in the respiratory electron transport chain–comprises two Cu centres, CuA and CuB [84]. Indeed, it is arguably the Cu centres that provide the crucial control of electrons in the catalysis of the reconstitution of the water molecule that allows released energy to be efficiently harnessed with minimal release of hazardous free radicals [77, 82, 85, 86, 87]. Because subclinical deficiencies of Cu are (as in the case of B; see below) widespread in agriculture [74], Cu is likely to affect competition between grasses and trees across many parts of the world.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of anabolic and catabolic nutrients on woody plant encroachment after long-term experimental fertilization in a South African savanna

Mills

Milewski

Snyman³

et al. 2017

PLoS ONE

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The causes of the worldwide problem of encroachment of woody plants into grassy vegetation are elusive. The effects of soil nutrients on competition between herbaceous and woody plants in various landscapes are particularly poorly understood. A long-term experiment of 60 plots in a South African savanna, comprising annual applications of ammonium sulphate (146–1166 kg ha-1 yr-1) and superphosphate (233–466 kg ha-1 yr-1) over three decades, and subsequent passive protection over another three decades, during which indigenous trees encroached on different plots to extremely variable degrees, provided an opportunity to investigate relationships between soil properties and woody encroachment. All topsoils were analysed for pH, acidity, EC, water-dispersible clay, Na, Mg, K, Ca, P, S, C, N, NH4, NO3, B, Mn, Cu and Zn. Applications of ammonium sulphate (AS), but not superphosphate (SP), greatly constrained tree abundance relative to control plots. Differences between control plots and plots that had received maximal AS application were particularly marked (16.3 ± 5.7 versus 1.2 ± 0.8 trees per plot). Soil properties most affected by AS applications included pH (H2O) (control to maximal AS application: 6.4 ± 0.1 to 5.1 ± 0.2), pH (KCl) (5.5 ± 0.2 to 4.0 ± 0.1), acidity (0.7 ± 0.1 to 2.6 ± 0.3 cmol kg-1), acid saturation (8 ± 2 to 40 ± 5%), Mg (386 ± 25 to 143 ± 15 mg kg-1), Ca (1022 ± 180 to 322 ± 14 mg kg-1), Mn (314 ± 11 to 118 ± 9 mg kg-1), Cu (3.6 ± 0.3 to 2.3 ± 0.2 mg kg-1) and Zn (6.6 ± 0.4 to 3.7 ± 0.4 mg kg-1). Magnesium, B, Mn and Cu were identified using principal component analysis, boundary line analysis and Kruskal-Wallis rank sum tests as the nutrients most likely to be affecting tree abundance. The ratio Mn/Cu was most related to tree abundance across the experiment, supporting the hypothesis that competition between herbaceous and woody plants depends on the availability of anabolic relative to catabolic nutrients. These findings, based on more than six decades of experimentation, may have global significance for the theoretical understanding of changes in vegetation structure and thus the practical control of invasive woody plants.

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Proton gradients at the origin of life

Cited by 65 publications

References 96 publications

Materials Synthesis and Catalysis in Microfluidic Devices: Prebiotic Chemistry in Mineral Membranes

Materials Synthesis and Catalysis in Microfluidic Devices: Prebiotic Chemistry in Mineral Membranes

Geological and Geochemical Constraints on the Origin and Evolution of Life

Effects of anabolic and catabolic nutrients on woody plant encroachment after long-term experimental fertilization in a South African savanna

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