Researchers simulate the origin of life: energy from black smokers!

Researchers simulate the origin of life: energy from black smokers!

An international team of microbiologists and geologists has made remarkable progress in researching the conditions on the early earth. Researchers from the University of Regensburg have replaced laboratory conditions that prevailed about four billion years ago. The focus was on so -called "black smokers", hydrothermal sources that occur on the sea floor. These findings were published in the renowned journal Nature Ecology & Evolution , which underlines the importance of the study.

As part of the laboratory experiment, miniature editions of these "black smokers", which are known as "Chemical Garden", were created. The researchers simulated chemical reactions that run on the seabed where iron reacts with sulfur and result in iron sulfide minerals such as Mackinawit and Greigit as well as hydrogen gas (H2). This hydrogen gas could be a potential source of energy for microorganisms.

growth of methanogenic archaeen

A central goal of the study was to examine whether the hydrogen generated would be sufficient to support the growth of methanogenic archae. In the "Chemical Garden", the growth of the archaeen was tested under anaerobic conditions, which was crucial for the success of the project. The team used methanocaldococcus jannaschii as a model organism to validate the results.

The results were encouraging: the archaes showed exponential growth and overexpressed genes of acetyl-coa metabolism, while successfully using the hydrogen gas as an energy source. In the investigation, a significant number of cells were near Mackinawit particles, which matches fossil finds and refers to the conditions of the early earth.

conclusions and effects of the study

The research work suggests that the chemical reactions in the precipitation of iron sulfide minerals could have generated sufficient energy to survive the first cells. This form of hydrogenic methanogenesis could therefore represent the oldest known type of energy generation. This means that the study is gaining in importance not only for microbiology, but also for geosciences.

The research results are in line with previous studies that have treated the role of methanogenesis and energy generation by archaeen in the evolution of life on earth. Specialist articles that deal with the mechanisms and evolution of these organisms were published in nature reviews Microbiology , genome biology and evolution and proceedings of the national academy of sciences

These innovative findings open up new perspectives for understanding the origins of life and the development of organisms in extreme environments. Further details on the study can be found in the publications on the websites of the universities of Regensburg and Mainz, as well as in the specialist literature.

For additional information and in -depth scientific analyzes see University Regensburg , University Mainz and Nature .