
AsianScientist (Aug. 20, 2019) – Though it remains unknown how life began, there is a community of scientists who suspect it occurred in or around deep sea hydrothermal environments. Now, a team of researchers in Japan have modelled deep sea conditions in the laboratory to show that certain chemical reactions necessary for life can indeed spontaneously occur.
The team led by Dr. Norio Kitadai, an affiliated scientist of the Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan, produced a set of electrochemical reactions in the laboratory mimicking early ocean floor hydrothermal vent environments. They demonstrated that metal sulfides, including those of iron, copper, lead and silver (some of which are common constituent minerals in hydrothermal vent environments), were converted to native metals by electroreduction.
Complexes of metal sulfide and reduced metal were also produced during the process. The team also discovered that several organic chemical reactions indispensable to modern lifeforms were promoted by these complexes. The authors believe the metals and metal sulfides served as reducing agents and catalysts for these reactions.
The researchers have thus identified a mechanism for the creation of organic compounds driven by hydrothermal electricity generation in hydrothermal fluids. One important implication of this work is that, since electrical current appears to be universally generated in deep sea hydrothermal vent environments on Earth, anywhere such hydrothermal processes occur throughout the cosmos should likewise promote this kind of chemistry.
Indeed, recent astronomical and spacecraft-based observations suggest there may be vigorous hydrothermal activity on the moons of Saturn and Jupiter, and hydrothermal activity was likely common on early Mars. Further research on the effects of various metals and electric gradients is expected to unveil much more about the environmental conditions that can facilitate prebiotic chemistry. This could ultimately lead to a better understanding of the universality and similarity of life in the universe.
The article can be found at: Kitadai et al. (2019) Metals Likely Promoted Protometabolism in Early Ocean Alkaline Hydrothermal Systems.
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Source: Tokyo Institute of Technology; Photo: Earth-Life Science Institute.
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