Hydrothermal vents supply a geochemical precursor of ATP that could have powered early life
Where did the energy come from to power the chemical origin of life, and how did phosphate come to be the universal energy currency of cells? Biologists from the Institute of Molecular Evolution at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (HHU) have uncovered a new source of energy that drove primordial chemical reactions on the early Earth forward to kick-start metabolism. Their findings, now…
Scientists have discovered a potential source of energy that could have fueled the first life forms on Earth. Researchers from the Institute of Molecular Evolution at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (HHU) found that phosphite, a substance found in hydrothermal vents, can be converted into phosphate through a process catalyzed by metals such as palladium.
This geochemical phosphorylation could have been a key step in the development of the universal energy currency of cells, adenosine triphosphate (ATP). The study, published in The FEBS Journal, suggests that ancient hydrothermal vents may have provided the conditions necessary for the origin of life, and that the metals found in these vents could have acted as catalysts to kick-start metabolism in early life forms.
Written by urgent.news from Phys.org's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
