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Reduced Phosphorus Assemblages as Sources of Reactive P the Origin and Evolution of Early Life
PI: Pasek, Matthew
The proposed research will investigate the origins of phosphorylated biomolecules and the effect meteoritic phosphorus (P) had on early Earth P geochemistry. Phosphorylated biomolecules are ubiquitous in life and are the basis for cellular replication and information storage (RNA and DNA), metabolism (adenosine triphosphate, or ATP), and structure (phospholipids). A rigorous pathway leading to the formation of phosphorylated biomolecules is unknown, yet there is growing evidence that the interaction of meteoritic material with water on the early Earth may have led to their formation (Pasek and Lauretta 2005, Gorrell et al. 2006, Bryant and Kee 2006). Furthermore, recent research has shown that (Fe,Ni)3P corrosion in aqueous solution with organics produces organic P compounds including organophosphates (Pasek et al. 2007). Additionally, recent investigations of bacterial metabolic pathways (White and Metcalf 2004) and geochemistry (Pasek 2006) suggest that the inventory of P on the early Earth may have included a substantial fraction of reduced aqueous P compounds.
However, the stability of these reduced P compounds is unclear and merits further investigation.We plan a two-stage experimental study of early prebiotic phosphorus geochemistry. Our goals are: 1) To understand the corrosion of schreibersite and their role in pre-biotic chemistry and the origin of life, and 2) To understand the pathways by which reduced phosphorus species degrade through a series of controlled experiments.
Experiments will be prepared and analyzed at the University of Arizona. All samples will be characterized by 31P nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, a highly selective, versatile technique capable of rapid and non-destructive identification of aqueous phosphorus species. NMR will provide information of species formed, yields, and rates of reactions. Several samples will be analyzed using electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy, which detects free radical species, several of which may be key precursors to biochemical compounds. Finally, several samples will be analyzed by mass spectrometric techniques, providing a rapid detection of trace compounds.
The results of this work will inform chemical pathways that may have lead to the origin of life here on Earth and elsewhere, it will describe the nature of early Earth phosphorus geochemistry and the effects on early microbes, and it will aid in the development of geochemical techniques for the detection of reduced P compounds and biosignatures on other planets, like Mars.
