Papineau Dominic, Devine Kevin, Nogueira Bernardo Albuquerque
London Centre for Nanotechnology, University College London, 17-19 Gordon Street, London WC1H0AH, UK.
Department of Earth Sciences, University College London, London WC1H0AH, UK.
Life (Basel). 2023 Feb 16;13(2):551. doi: 10.3390/life13020551.
The origin of life must have included an abiotic stage of carbon redox reactions that involved electron transport chains and the production of lifelike patterns. Chemically oscillating reactions (COR) are abiotic, spontaneous, out-of-equilibrium, and redox reactions that involve the decarboxylation of carboxylic acids with strong oxidants and strong acids to produce CO and characteristic self-similar patterns. Those patterns have circular concentricity, radial geometries, characteristic circular twins, colour gradients, cavity structures, and branching to parallel alignment. We propose that COR played a role during the prebiotic cycling of carboxylic acids, furthering the new model for geology where COR can also explain the patterns of diagenetic spheroids in sediments. The patterns of COR in Petri dishes are first considered and compared to those observed in some eukaryotic lifeforms. The molecular structures and functions of reactants in COR are then compared to key biological metabolic processes. We conclude that the newly recognised similarities in compositions and patterns warrant future research to better investigate the role of halogens in biochemistry; COR in life-forms, including in humans; and the COR-stage of prebiotic carbon cycling on other planets, such as Mars.
生命的起源必定包括一个碳氧化还原反应的非生物阶段，该阶段涉及电子传递链和逼真模式的产生。化学振荡反应（COR）是非生物的、自发的、非平衡的氧化还原反应，它涉及用强氧化剂和强酸使羧酸脱羧以产生一氧化碳和特征性的自相似模式。这些模式具有圆形同心度、径向几何形状、特征性的圆形孪晶、颜色梯度、空洞结构以及从分支到平行排列。我们认为，COR在羧酸的益生元循环过程中发挥了作用，进一步完善了地质学的新模型，在该模型中COR还能解释沉积物中成岩球粒的模式。首先考虑培养皿中COR的模式，并将其与在一些真核生物中观察到的模式进行比较。然后将COR中反应物的分子结构和功能与关键的生物代谢过程进行比较。我们得出结论，新认识到的组成和模式上的相似性值得未来开展研究，以更好地探究卤素在生物化学中的作用；COR在包括人类在内的生命形式中的作用；以及在其他行星（如火星）上益生元碳循环的COR阶段。
