Quick Search:    advanced search

GSW Home   GeoRef Home   My GSW Alerts   Contact GSW   About GSW   Journals List   Help

This Article Figures Only Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Cody, G. D. Search for Related Content GeoRef GeoRef Citation

Geochemical Connections to Primitive Metabolism

¹ Geophysical Laboratory, Carnegie Institution of Washington, 5251 Broad Branch Rd NW, Washington, DC 20015, USA
E-mail: g.cody{at}gl.ciw.edu

Many microorganisms make extensive use of transition metal sulfide clusters in their metabolic chemistry. Similarly, transition metal sulfide minerals, e.g., pyrrhotite and pyrite, have the potential to provide the essential catalytic chemistry for Earth's earliest life. Experiments reveal that transition metal sulfides have the capacity to both catalyze and, in some cases, participate in organosynthetic reactions that bear similarity to modern biosynthetic pathways. These experiments are buttressed by recognition of natural cases of extensive abiotic organosynthesis in the Earth's crust—reactions that could have provided the first life with a large complement of functionally useful protobiological organic compounds.

KEYWORDS: metabolism, biosynthesis, biocatalysis, origin of life, biogenesis

This article has been cited by other articles:

				B. T. De Gregorio, T. G. Sharp, G. J. Flynn, S. Wirick, and R. L. Hervig Biogenic origin for Earth's oldest putative microfossils Geology, July 1, 2009; 37(7): 631 - 634. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				M. Posfai and R. E. Dunin-Borkowski Sulfides in Biosystems Reviews in Mineralogy and Geochemistry, January 1, 2006; 61(1): 679 - 714. [Full Text] [PDF]