| Title: | Phosphorus: a case for mineral-organic reactions in prebiotic chemistry |
| Author(s): | Pasek M; Herschy B; Kee TP; |
| Address: | "School of Geosciences, University of South Florida, 4202 E Fowler Ave, Tampa, FL, 33620, USA, mpasek@usf.edu" |
| DOI: | 10.1007/s11084-015-9420-y |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 1573-0875 (Electronic) 0169-6149 (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "The ubiquity of phosphorus (P) in modern biochemistry suggests that P may have participated in prebiotic chemistry prior to the emergence of life. Of the major biogenic elements, phosphorus alone lacks a substantial volatile phase and its ultimate source therefore had to have been a mineral. However, as most native P minerals are chemically un-reactive within the temperature-pressure-pH regimes of contemporary life, it begs the question as to whether the most primitive early living systems on earth had access to a more chemically reactive P-mineral inventory. The meteoritic mineral schreibersite has been proposed as an important source of reactive P on the early earth. The chemistry of schreibersite as a P source is summarized and reviewed here. Recent work has also shown that reduced oxidation state P compounds were present on the early earth; these compounds lend credence to the relevance of schreibersite as a prebiotic mineral. Ultimately, schreibersite will oxidize to phosphate, but several high-energy P intermediates may have provided the reactive material necessary for incorporating P into prebiotic molecules" |
| Keywords: | "Earth, Planet *Evolution, Chemical Meteoroids Minerals/*chemistry Origin of Life Oxidation-Reduction Phosphorus/*chemistry Water/*chemistry;" |
| Notes: | "MedlinePasek, Matthew Herschy, Barry Kee, Terence P eng Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S. Netherlands 2015/03/17 Orig Life Evol Biosph. 2015 Jun; 45(1-2):207-18. doi: 10.1007/s11084-015-9420-y. Epub 2015 Mar 14" |
