The Effect of the Presence of Amino Acids on the Precipitation of Inorganic Chemical-Garden Membranes: Biomineralization at the Origin of Life
Metadatos
Mostrar el registro completo del ítemAutor
Borrego Sánchez, Ana María; Gutiérrez Ariza, Carlos; Sainz Díaz, Claro Ignacio; Cartwright, Julyan H. E.Editorial
American Chemical Society
Fecha
2022-08-17Referencia bibliográfica
Langmuir 2022, 38, 34, 10538–10547. [https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.langmuir.2c01345]
Patrocinador
European Commission P-18-RT-3786; Spanish Andalusian CA17120Resumen
If life developed in hydrothermal vents, it would have
been within mineral membranes. The first proto-cells must have
evolved to manipulate the mineral membranes that formed their
compartments in order to control their metabolism. There must have
occurred a biological takeover of the self-assembled mineral
structures of the vents, with the incorporation of proto-biological
molecules within the mineral membranes to alter their properties for
life’s purposes. Here, we study a laboratory analogue of this process:
chemical-garden precipitation of the amino acids arginine and
tryptophan with the metal salt iron chloride and sodium silicate.
We produced these chemical gardens using different methodologies
in order to determine the dependence of the morphology and
chemistry on the growth conditions, as well as the effect of the amino
acids on the formation of the iron-silicate chemical garden. We
compared the effects of having amino acids initially within the forming chemical garden, corresponding to the internal zones of
hydrothermal vents, or else outside, corresponding to the surrounding ocean. The characterization of the formed chemical gardens
using X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, elemental analysis, and scanning electron microscopy demonstrates
the presence of amino acids in these structures. The growth method in which the amino acid is initially in the tablet with the iron salt
is that which generated chemical gardens with more amino acids in their structures.