Thermal Energy and the Origin of Life

Abstract

Life has evolved on Earth with electromagnetic radiation (light), fermentable organic molecules, and oxidizable chemicals as sources of energy. Biological use of thermal energy has not been observed although heat, and the thermal gradients required to convert it into free energy, are ubiquitous and were even more abundant at the time of the origin of life on Earth. Nevertheless, Earth-organisms sense thermal energy, and in suitable environments may have gained the capability to use it as energy source. It has been proposed that the first organisms obtained their energy by a first protein named pF(1) that worked on a thermal variation of the binding change mechanism of today's ATP sythase enzyme. Organisms using thermosynthesis may still live where light or chemical energy sources are not available. Possible suitable examples are subsurface environments on Earth and in the outer Solar System, in particular the subsurface oceans of the icy satellites of Jupiter and Saturn.

Emergence of Animals from Heat Engines – Part 1. Before the Snowball Earths

“…8 Proposed mechanisms for the flagellar computer could be confirmed by observation and experiment, in which conformational states of proteins are tracked by fluorescence or thermocoloration [236].…”

“…7 In a clock an escapement converts a rotary motion of the rotor (driven by a spring or weight) into a backand-forth motion [223]. 8 . Berg [235] has drawn attention to the similarity of tumbling in bacteria and human thinking:…”

“…In previous studies the notion was applied in models for the origin of life and the origin of photosynthesis [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8], i.e., the origin of plants. In these studies the required thermal cycling was the effect of suspension in convecting water such as present in volcanic hot springs.…”

Special Issue: Abstracts From the 2008 Issol Meeting

“…Can RNA-based life achieve the metabolic sophistication needed to give birth to the protein-nucleic acid World? To tackle to these questions a number of theoretical and experimental Muller, 2006) works have been carried out with the ultimate goal of re-creating an RNA World in the laboratory. Within this framework lies the "Never Born Biopolymers (NBBs)" project (Luisi et al, 2006) and in particular the "Never Born RNAs" (NBRs) project which goal is to explore the RNAs' sequence space for catalytic functions.…”

The prospect of alien life in exotic forms on other worlds

“…Thermosynthesis, just like a steam engine, would make use of a phase transition. Membranes can undergo the thermotropic phase transition, which increases the mobility of the molecules within the membrane (Muller and Schulze-Makuch 2005). Due to a change in dipole potential, such a transition would very plausibly result in a change in potential across the membrane (Muller 1993).…”