Setting the geological scene for the origin of life and continuing open questions about its emergence
The origin of life is one of the most fundamental questions of humanity. It has been and is still being addressed by a wide range of researchers from different fields, with different approaches and ideas as to how it came about. What is still incomplete is constrained information about the environme...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2023-01-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fspas.2022.1095701/full |
| _version_ | 1797959662850539520 |
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| author | Frances Westall André Brack Alberto G. Fairén Alberto G. Fairén Mitchell D. Schulte |
| author_facet | Frances Westall André Brack Alberto G. Fairén Alberto G. Fairén Mitchell D. Schulte |
| author_sort | Frances Westall |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The origin of life is one of the most fundamental questions of humanity. It has been and is still being addressed by a wide range of researchers from different fields, with different approaches and ideas as to how it came about. What is still incomplete is constrained information about the environment and the conditions reigning on the Hadean Earth, particularly on the inorganic ingredients available, and the stability and longevity of the various environments suggested as locations for the emergence of life, as well as on the kinetics and rates of the prebiotic steps leading to life. This contribution reviews our current understanding of the geological scene in which life originated on Earth, zooming in specifically on details regarding the environments and timescales available for prebiotic reactions, with the aim of providing experimenters with more specific constraints. Having set the scene, we evoke the still open questions about the origin of life: did life start organically or in mineralogical form? If organically, what was the origin of the organic constituents of life? What came first, metabolism or replication? What was the time-scale for the emergence of life? We conclude that the way forward for prebiotic chemistry is an approach merging geology and chemistry, i.e., far-from-equilibrium, wet-dry cycling (either subaerial exposure or dehydration through chelation to mineral surfaces) of organic reactions occurring repeatedly and iteratively at mineral surfaces under hydrothermal-like conditions. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T00:34:54Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-6600372a2ae54a92a17cebeed79eb863 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2296-987X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T00:34:54Z |
| publishDate | 2023-01-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences |
| spelling | doaj.art-6600372a2ae54a92a17cebeed79eb8632023-01-06T20:30:00ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences2296-987X2023-01-01910.3389/fspas.2022.10957011095701Setting the geological scene for the origin of life and continuing open questions about its emergenceFrances Westall0André Brack1Alberto G. Fairén2Alberto G. Fairén3Mitchell D. Schulte4Centre de Biophysique Moléculaire, CNRS, Orléans, FranceCentre de Biophysique Moléculaire, CNRS, Orléans, FranceCentro de Astrobiología (CAB, CSIC-INTA), Madrid, SpainCornell University, Ithaca, NY, United StatesNASA Headquarters, Washington, DC, United StatesThe origin of life is one of the most fundamental questions of humanity. It has been and is still being addressed by a wide range of researchers from different fields, with different approaches and ideas as to how it came about. What is still incomplete is constrained information about the environment and the conditions reigning on the Hadean Earth, particularly on the inorganic ingredients available, and the stability and longevity of the various environments suggested as locations for the emergence of life, as well as on the kinetics and rates of the prebiotic steps leading to life. This contribution reviews our current understanding of the geological scene in which life originated on Earth, zooming in specifically on details regarding the environments and timescales available for prebiotic reactions, with the aim of providing experimenters with more specific constraints. Having set the scene, we evoke the still open questions about the origin of life: did life start organically or in mineralogical form? If organically, what was the origin of the organic constituents of life? What came first, metabolism or replication? What was the time-scale for the emergence of life? We conclude that the way forward for prebiotic chemistry is an approach merging geology and chemistry, i.e., far-from-equilibrium, wet-dry cycling (either subaerial exposure or dehydration through chelation to mineral surfaces) of organic reactions occurring repeatedly and iteratively at mineral surfaces under hydrothermal-like conditions.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fspas.2022.1095701/fullorigin of lifeearly earthprebiotic environmentsvolcanic rocksstochastic chemistryhydrothermal environments |
| spellingShingle | Frances Westall André Brack Alberto G. Fairén Alberto G. Fairén Mitchell D. Schulte Setting the geological scene for the origin of life and continuing open questions about its emergence Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences origin of life early earth prebiotic environments volcanic rocks stochastic chemistry hydrothermal environments |
| title | Setting the geological scene for the origin of life and continuing open questions about its emergence |
| title_full | Setting the geological scene for the origin of life and continuing open questions about its emergence |
| title_fullStr | Setting the geological scene for the origin of life and continuing open questions about its emergence |
| title_full_unstemmed | Setting the geological scene for the origin of life and continuing open questions about its emergence |
| title_short | Setting the geological scene for the origin of life and continuing open questions about its emergence |
| title_sort | setting the geological scene for the origin of life and continuing open questions about its emergence |
| topic | origin of life early earth prebiotic environments volcanic rocks stochastic chemistry hydrothermal environments |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fspas.2022.1095701/full |
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