title: New insights into a hot environment for early life.
abstract: Investigating the physical-chemical setting of early life is a challenging task. In this contribution, the author attempted to introduce a provocative concept from cosmology - cosmic microwave background (CMB), which is the residual thermal radiation from a hot early Universe - to the field. For this purpose, the author revisited a recently deduced biomarker, the 1,6-anhydro bond of sugars in bacteria. In vitro, the 1,6-anhydro bond of sugars reflects and captures residual thermal radiation in thermochemical processes and therefore is somewhat analogous to CMB. In vivo, the formation process of the 1,6-anhydro bond of sugars on the peptidoglycan of prokaryotic cell wall is parallel to in vitro processes, suggesting that the 1,6-anhydro bond is an ideal CMB-like analogue that suggests a hot setting for early life. The CMB-like 1,6-anhydro bond is involved in the life cycle of viruses and the metabolism of eukaryotes, underlying this notion. From a novel perspective, the application of the concept of the CMB to microbial ecology may give new insights into a hot environment, such as hydrothermal vents, supporting early life and providing hypotheses to test in molecular palaeontology.
authors.affiliation: School of Biology and Pharmaceutical Engineering, Wuhan Polytechnic University, No. 68 Xuefu Road (S), Evergreen Garden, Wuhan, 430023, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Jianghong
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Dai
mesh_terms: D001419:Bacteria / Q000378:metabolism; D002473:Cell Wall / Q000378:metabolism; D002482:Cellulose / Q000737:chemistry; D003359:Cosmic Radiation; D004187:Disaccharides / Q000138:chemical synthesis*; D005947:Glucose / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000138:chemical synthesis; D005960:Glucosides / Q000737:chemistry; D006358:Hot Temperature; D060086:Hydrothermal Vents / Q000382:microbiology*; D008872:Microwaves; D000069497:Origin of Life; D010457:Peptidoglycan / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D004187:Disaccharides; D005960:Glucosides; D010457:Peptidoglycan; C524805:glucopyranosyl-(1-4)-1,6-anhydroglucopyranose; C014989:1,6-anhydro-beta-glucopyranose; D002482:Cellulose; D005947:Glucose