Total ion chromatograms of magnetite following a hydrothermal reaction compared to controls. A Comparison of a representative of one of three replicate total ion chromatograms obtained by reacting magnetite with HCO3− and H2 at 90°C and 16 bars of total pressure for 16 hours alongside the controls. (a) Organic molecules generated from magnetite with H2 and HCO3−. (b) Control sample using magnetite with H2 (c) Control sample using quartz with H2 and HCO3− (d) Control sample using quartz with H2. B Magnification of the region of the chromatogram delimited by the dotted box in (A). Peaks with a signal-to-noise ratio <5:1 or with an inverse match factor <65.0 compared to the NIST20 library are not labeled (Supplementary Data 3 for peak identities obtained from the NIST20 library) . Credit: Earth and Environment Communications (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s43247-023-01196-4
Newcastle University research is looking to ancient hot springs to explore the origins of life on Earth.
The research team studied how the emergence of the first living systems from inert geological materials occurred on Earth more than 3.5 billion years ago. Scientists from Newcastle University have discovered that mixing hydrogen, bicarbonate and iron-rich magnetite in conditions mimicking relatively mild hydrothermal vents results in the formation of a spectrum of organic molecules, including fatty acids extending up to 18 carbon atoms.
Published in the journal Earth and Environment CommunicationsTheir findings could reveal how some key molecules needed to produce life are made from inorganic chemicals, key to understanding a key step in the formation of life on Earth billions of years ago.
Their results could provide a plausible genesis of the organic molecules that form ancient cell membranes that may have been selectively selected by early biochemical processes on the primordial Earth.
Fatty acids from the earliest stages of life
Fatty acids are long organic molecules that have regions that attract and repel water and will automatically form cellular compartments in water, and it is these types of molecules that could have formed the first cell membranes. Yet despite their importance, it was difficult to know where these fatty acids came from in the early stages of life.
One idea is that they could form in hydrothermal vents where hot water, mixed with hydrogen-rich fluids from underwater vents, mixed with seawater containing CO.2.
The group replicated in its laboratory crucial aspects of the chemical environment found in Earth’s early oceans and the mixing of hot alkaline water from certain types of hydrothermal vents. They discovered that when hot hydrogen-rich fluids were mixed with carbon dioxide-rich water in the presence of iron-based minerals found on early Earth, it created the types of molecules needed to form cell membranes primitives.
Lead author Dr Graham Purvis carried out the study at the University of Newcastle and is currently a postdoctoral research associate at the University of Durham.
He said: “At the heart of the creation of life are cellular compartments, crucial for isolating internal chemistry from the external environment. These compartments were instrumental in promoting vital reactions by concentrating chemicals and facilitating energy production, potentially serving as the cornerstone of the first moments of life. “
“The results suggest that the convergence of hydrogen-rich fluids from alkaline hydrothermal vents with bicarbonate-rich waters on iron-based minerals could have precipitated the rudimentary membranes of the first cells early in life.”
“This process could have generated a diversity of membrane types, some potentially serving as the cradle of life early in life. Additionally, this transformation process could have contributed to the genesis of specific acids present in the elemental composition of meteorites.”
Lead researcher Dr Jon Telling, reader in biogeochemistry in the School of Environmental Natural Sciences, added: “We believe this research could be the first step in the origin of life on our planet. Research in our laboratory is currently continuing to determine the second step. key stage: how these organic molecules, initially “glued” to mineral surfaces, can take off to form spherical cellular compartments delimited by a membrane; the first potential “protocells” which then formed the first cellular life. »
Intriguingly, the researchers also suggest that membrane-building reactions, similar reactions, could still be occurring today in the oceans beneath the surface of our solar system’s icy moons. This raises the possibility of alternative origins of life on these distant worlds.
More information:
Graham Purvis et al, Generation of long-chain fatty acids by hydrogen-induced reduction of bicarbonates in ancient alkaline hydrothermal vents, Earth and Environment Communications (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s43247-023-01196-4
Provided by Newcastle University
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