The Prebiotic Evolution of Redox Chemistry on Earth

这项研究的主要目标是开发初步数据，解决关于远离热力学平衡的氧化还原反应演化的关键假设。在这个项目中，研究人员将提供实验数据并进行计算分析，以检验一个关键假设：在没有生命的情况下，氮的非生物还原可以通过光催化的亚铁氧化进行。如果这一假说得到支持，它将有可能解释铁-硫复合体如何稳定地结合在核心代谢酶中，如固氮酶，同时提供另一种假说，解释在距今38亿年(GA)之前带状铁的形成。这一高风险的基础研究项目将为理解核心代谢复合体的进化提供实验和计算证据，而核心代谢复合体对地球上生命的进化至关重要。该项目将培养和培训一名研究生和一名博士后研究员。博士后研究员将得到团队指导和支持，目标是为他/她开发自己的独立研究项目做好准备。此外，该项目的科学家积极参与与新泽西州当地K-12学校系统的合作，并利用自由科学中心和美国国家科学基金会赞助的大西洋中部海洋科学教育卓越中心(COSEE MA；www.Cosee-ma.net)，通过公开讲座和外联活动，提供有关生命进化的信息。

The primary goal of the research is to develop preliminary data that address a key hypothesis about the evolution of redox reactions far from thermodynamic equilibrium. In this project, the investigators will provide both experimental data and develop computational analyses to test a key hypothesis: that the abiotic reduction of N could proceed absent life via a light catalyzed oxidation of ferrous iron. If this hypothesis can be supported, it would potentially explain how iron-sulfur complexes became stably incorporated in core metabolic enzymes, such as nitrogenase, while simultaneously providing an alternative hypothesis accounting for banded iron formations at 3.8 billion years before present (Ga). This high-risk, basic research project will provide both experimental and computational evidence for understanding the evolution of core metabolic complexes that were essential to the evolution of life on Earth. BROADER IMPACTSThe project will educate and train one graduate student and one post-doctoral fellow. The post-doctoral fellow will be team mentored and supported, with a goal of preparing him/her to develop their own, independent research program. In addition, the project scientists are strongly involved in working with local K-12 school systems in New Jersey and providing information about evolution of life through public lectures and outreach using the Liberty Science Center and the NSF-sponsored Centers for Ocean Science Education Excellence Mid Atlantic (COSEE MA; www.cosee-ma.net).