Root-Bernstein Robert, Brown Adam W
Department of Physiology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA.
Department of Art, Art History and Design, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA.
Life (Basel). 2022 Sep 28;12(10):1508. doi: 10.3390/life12101508.
Origins-of-life chemical experiments usually aim to produce specific chemical end-products such as amino acids, nucleic acids or sugars. The resulting chemical systems do not evolve or adapt because they lack natural selection processes. We have modified Miller origins-of-life apparatuses to incorporate several natural, prebiotic physicochemical selection factors that can be tested individually or in tandem: freezing-thawing cycles; drying-wetting cycles; ultraviolet light-dark cycles; and catalytic surfaces such as clays or minerals. Each process is already known to drive important origins-of-life chemical reactions such as the production of peptides and synthesis of nucleic acid bases and each can also destroy various reactants and products, resulting selection within the chemical system. No previous apparatus has permitted all of these selection processes to work together. Continuous synthesis and selection of products can be carried out over many months because the apparatuses can be re-gassed. Thus, long-term chemical evolution of chemical ecosystems under various combinations of natural selection may be explored for the first time. We argue that it is time to begin experimenting with the long-term effects of such prebiotic natural selection processes because they may have aided biotic life to emerge by taming the combinatorial chemical explosion that results from unbounded chemical syntheses.
生命起源化学实验通常旨在产生特定的化学终产物，如氨基酸、核酸或糖类。所产生的化学系统不会进化或适应，因为它们缺乏自然选择过程。我们对米勒生命起源实验装置进行了改进，纳入了几个自然的、益生元前体物理化学选择因素，这些因素可以单独或串联测试：冻融循环；干湿循环；紫外光暗循环；以及催化表面，如粘土或矿物质。已知每个过程都会驱动重要的生命起源化学反应，如肽的产生和核酸碱基的合成，并且每个过程也会破坏各种反应物和产物，从而在化学系统内产生选择。以前没有任何装置能让所有这些选择过程共同起作用。由于实验装置可以重新充气，因此可以在数月内持续进行产物的合成和选择。因此，首次有可能探索在各种自然选择组合下化学生态系统的长期化学进化。我们认为，现在是时候开始试验这种益生元前体自然选择过程的长期影响了，因为它们可能通过控制无限制化学合成导致的组合化学爆炸，帮助生物生命的出现。
