Elements for the Origin of Life on Land: A Deep-Time Perspective from the Pilbara Craton of Western Australia
Elements for the Origin of Life on Land: A Deep-Time Perspective from the Pilbara Craton of Western Australia
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DOI：
10.1089/ast.2019.2107
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发表时间：
2021-01-01
期刊：
影响因子：
4.2
通讯作者：
Nakamura, Eizo
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Van Kranendonk, Martin J.;Baumgartner, Raphael;Nakamura, Eizo
几十年来，深海热液喷口一直是生命起源的首选环境，但与有机分子聚合有关的“水问题”，加上稀释关键的益生生物元素的倾向以及一些其他关键因素，表明具有干湿循环和元素集中能力的陆地温泉场可能是更有可能的候选环境。在这里，我们调查了澳大利亚皮尔巴拉克拉通的一个35亿年前的缺氧温泉，发现它的热液脉络和成分不同的池泉集中了生命前化学所需的所有必要元素(除了C、H、N、O、P和S外，还包括B、锌、锰和钾)。时间变化(从季节到十年)，再加上已知的温泉干湿循环和信息交换的倾向，将导致创新池具有开发分子的适宜性峰值。从皮尔巴拉类似物的化学复杂性推断，生命可能很快就会在拥有火山、硅酸盐岩石、裸露的陆地表面和水的行星上开始存在，这些成分应该会构成寻找宇宙中生命的支柱。
For decades, deep sea hydrothermal vents have been a preferred setting for the Origin of Life, but "The Water Problem" as relates to polymerization of organic molecules, together with a propensity to dilute critical prebiotic elements as well as a number of other crucial factors, suggests that a terrestrial hot spring field with the capacity for wet-dry cycling and element concentration may represent a more likely candidate. Here, we investigate a 3.5 billion-year-old, anoxic hot spring setting from the Pilbara Craton (Australia) and show that its hydrothermal veins and compositionally varied pools and springs concentrated all of the essential elements required for prebiotic chemistry (including B, Zn, Mn, and K, in addition to C, H, N, O, P, and S). Temporal variability (seasonal to decadal), together with the known propensity of hot springs for wet-dry cycling and information exchange, would lead to innovation pools with peaks of fitness for developing molecules. An inference from the chemical complexity of the Pilbara analogue is that life could perhaps get started quickly on planets with volcanoes, silicate rocks, an exposed land surface, and water, ingredients that should form the backbone in the search for life in the Universe.