pH Gradient Dependent Geo-Electrochemical Origin of Life on Aqua Planets in the Universe

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Life requires energy and nutrients. Unless we understand how nutrients were formed and made available to metabolism, and how energy was first delivered, we cannot understand life today, nor at the origin of life. In our proposal, we address the challenge of understanding where nutrient and energy may have came from for the origin of life. We focus on hydrothermal vents, which may be present on many wet and rocky planets in the universe. We are pioneering a novel strategy of energy flow in hydrothermal vents involving electron transfer from donors at high pH, toacceptors in lower pH. Our goal is to begin to understand energy transfer reactions which could have led to the origin of life.In this year we effectively prepared for the research theme proposal contents. Specifically, we designed new custom glass reactors and additionally considered polymeric PDMS as a reactor substrate as well. We are challenged with keeping the system anaerobic during operation to achieve conditions resembling those of the early Earth or other planets. To operate the reactor, we are achieving anaerobic reaction conditions and utilizing various analytical conditions by varying mineral composition and electron donor-acceptor pair. Furthermore we are investigating how universal this novel mechanism of pH separation driving electron transfer reactions of energy use may be on aquaplanets in the universe.