title: From cytoplasm to environment: the inorganic ingredients for the origin of life.
abstract: Early in its history, Earth's surface developed from an uninhabitable magma ocean to a place where life could emerge. The first organisms, lacking ion transporters, fixed the composition of their cradle environment in their intracellular fluid. Later, though life adapted and spread, it preserved some qualities of its initial environment within. Modern prokaryotes could thus provide insights into the conditions of early Earth and the requirements for the emergence of life. In this work, we constrain Earth's life-forming environment through detailed analysis of prokaryotic intracellular fluid. Rigorous assessment of the constraints placed on the early Earth environment by intracellular liquid will provide insight into the conditions of abiogenesis, with implications not only for our understanding of early Earth but also the formation of life elsewhere in the Universe.
authors: Unicamp, Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil. alexey@ige.unicamp.br
authors: Alexey A
authors: AA
authors: Novoselov
authors: Paloma
authors: P
authors: Serrano
authors: Mírian Liza Alves Forancelli
authors: ML
authors: Pacheco
authors: Michael Scott
authors: MS
authors: Chaffin
authors: Jack Thomas
authors: JT
authors: O'Malley-James
authors: Susan Carla
authors: SC
authors: Moreno
authors: Filipe Batista
authors: FB
authors: Ribeiro
mesh_terms: D001272:Atmosphere / Q000737:chemistry; D001419:Bacteria / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism; D002245:Carbon Dioxide / Q000032:analysis; D002412:Cations; D003593:Cytoplasm / Q000737:chemistry*; D004602:Elements; D004777:Environment; D060086:Hydrothermal Vents / Q000737:chemistry; D007287:Inorganic Chemicals / Q000032:analysis*; D008697:Methane / Q000032:analysis; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D009792:Oceans and Seas; D000069497:Origin of Life; D012623:Seawater / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D002412:Cations; D004602:Elements; D007287:Inorganic Chemicals; D002245:Carbon Dioxide; D008697:Methane