title: Hydrothermal vents and the origin of life.
abstract: Submarine hydrothermal vents are geochemically reactive habitats that harbour rich microbial communities. There are striking parallels between the chemistry of the H(2)-CO(2) redox couple that is present in hydrothermal systems and the core energy metabolic reactions of some modern prokaryotic autotrophs. The biochemistry of these autotrophs might, in turn, harbour clues about the kinds of reactions that initiated the chemistry of life. Hydrothermal vents thus unite microbiology and geology to breathe new life into research into one of biology's most important questions - what is the origin of life?
authors.affiliation: Institut für Botanik III, Heinrich-Heine Universität Düsseldorf, 40225 Düsseldorf, Germany. w.martin@uni-duesseldorf.de
authors.forename: William
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Martin
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Baross
authors.forename: Deborah
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kelley
authors.forename: Michael J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Russell
mesh_terms: D004734:Energy Metabolism; D045482:Hot Springs; D000069497:Origin of Life; D011387:Prokaryotic Cells / Q000378:metabolism; D012623:Seawater