Laboratorio de Estudios Cristalográficos, Instituto Andaluz de Ciencias de la Tierra, CSIC-Universidad de Granada, Av. de las Palmeras 4, Armilla (Granada), Spain.
Equipe Géomicrobiologie, Université de Paris, Institut de physique du globe de Paris, CNRS, F-75005 Paris, France.
Phys Life Rev. 2020 Dec;34-35:62-82. doi: 10.1016/j.plrev.2020.01.001. Epub 2020 Jan 13.
It has been experimentally demonstrated that, under alkaline conditions, silica is able to induce the formation of mineral self-assembled inorganic-inorganic composite materials similar in morphology, texture and nanostructure to the hybrid biomineral structures that, millions of years later, life was able to self-organize. These mineral self-organized structures (MISOS) have been also shown to work as effective catalysts for prebiotic chemical reactions and to easily create compartmentalization within the solutions where they form. We reason that, during the very earliest history of this planet, there was a geochemical scenario that inevitably led to the existence of a large-scale factory of simple and complex organic compounds, many of which were relevant to prebiotic chemistry. The factory was built on a silica-rich high-pH ocean and powered by two main factors: a) a quasi-infinite source of simple carbon molecules synthesized abiotically from reactions associated with serpentinization, or transported from meteorites and produced from their impact on that alkaline ocean, and b) the formation of self-organized silica-metal mineral composites that catalyze the condensation of simple molecules in a methane-rich reduced atmosphere. We discuss the plausibility of this geochemical scenario, review the details of the formation of MISOS and its catalytic properties and the transition towards a slightly alkaline to neutral ocean.
实验证明，在碱性条件下，二氧化硅能够诱导形成矿物自组装的无机-无机复合材料，其形态、质地和纳米结构与数百万年后生命能够自我组织的混合生物矿物结构相似。这些矿物自组织结构（MISOS）已被证明是有效的前生物化学反应催化剂，并能在其形成的溶液中轻松实现分隔。我们推断，在这个星球的早期历史中，存在一种地球化学情景，不可避免地导致了一个大规模的简单和复杂有机化合物工厂的存在，其中许多与前生物化学有关。该工厂建在一个富含二氧化硅、高 pH 值的海洋上，并由两个主要因素提供动力：a）一种准无限的简单碳分子源，这些碳分子通过与蛇纹石化相关的反应或通过陨石运输并从其对碱性海洋的撞击中产生的非生物合成，b）自组织的二氧化硅-金属矿物复合材料的形成，这种复合材料能够催化在富含甲烷的还原气氛中简单分子的缩合。我们讨论了这种地球化学情景的合理性，回顾了 MISOS 的形成及其催化特性以及向略碱性到中性海洋的转变的细节。
