Energy flow and the organization of life
Abstract
Understanding the emergence and robustness of life requires accounting for both chemical specificity and statistical generality. We argue that the reverse of a common observation—that life requires a source of free energy to persist—provides an appropriate principle to understand the emergence, organization, and persistence of life on earth. Life, and in particular core biochemistry, has many properties of a relaxation channel that was driven into existence by free energy stresses from the earth's geochemistry. Like lightning or convective storms, the carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus fluxes through core anabolic pathways make sense as the order parameters in a phase transition from an abiotic to a living state of the geosphere. Interpreting core pathways as order parameters would both explain their stability over billions of years, and perhaps predict the uniqueness of specific optimal chemical pathways. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Complexity, 2007
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Metabolic cycles are among the most fundamental and universal organizing principles of metabolism.
“Today we recognize metabolic cycles, such as the citric acid cycle [98,99], as some of the most fundamental and universal organizing principles of metabolism.”
From Fundamental constraints to the logic of living systems (2024) · cites this paper as [99]
The steps that led to proto-metabolic networks were more constrained.
“Alternatively, it is possible that the steps that led to proto-metabolic networks were more constrained (Morowitz and Smith, 2007).”
From The Astrobiology Primer v2.0 (2016) · cites this paper as Morowitz and Smith, 2007
Cites
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The Future of Origin of Life Research: Bridging Decades-Old Divisions
Preiner, M., Asche, S., Becker, S., Betts, H. C., Boniface, A., Camprubi, E., Chandru, K., Erastova, V., Garg, S. G., Khawaja, N., et al. (2020) · Life · doi:10.3390/life10030020 · Cited by 140 · see citing works
Domagal-Goldman, S. D., Wright, K. E., Domagal-Goldman, S. D., Wright, K. E., Adamala, K., Arina de la Rubia, L., Bond, J., Dartnell, L. R., Goldman, A. D., Lynch, K., et al. (2016) · Astrobiology · doi:10.1089/ast.2015.1460 · Cited by 136 · see citing works
“Alternatively, it is possible that the steps that led to proto-metabolic networks were more constrained (Morowitz and Smith, 2007).”
First principles in the life sciences: the free-energy principle, organicism, and mechanism
Colombo, M., & Wright, C. (2021) · Synthese · doi:10.1007/s11229-018-01932-w · Cited by 101 · see citing works
Origins of life: a problem for physics, a key issues review
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“In this picture, the biosphere emerged as a direct outgrowth of the geosphere [7], driven by energy flows that generated structure at multiple hierarchical scales [111].”
BackgroundA symbiotic view of the origin of life at hydrothermal impact crater-lakes
Chatterjee, S. (2016) · Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics · doi:10.1039/c6cp00550k · Cited by 57 · see citing works
Fundamental constraints to the logic of living systems
Solé, R., Kempes, C. P., Corominas-Murtra, B., De Domenico, M., Kolchinsky, A., Lachmann, M., Libby, E., Saavedra, S., Smith, E., & Wolpert, D. (2024) · Interface Focus · doi:10.1098/rsfs.2024.0010 · Cited by 34 · see citing works
Self-citation
- Authors
- Morowitz, H., & Smith, E.
- Affiliations
- George Mason University (US)
- Santa Fe Institute (US)
- Corresponding author
- Smith, Eric
- ORCID
- Smith, Eric
- Venue
- Complexity
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2007-09
- Volume
- 13
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 51-59
- ISSN
- 1076-2787 (ISSN-L)
- 1099-0526
- OpenAlex
- W1969780777
- Cited by
- 161
- References
- 4
- Citations by year
- 2026: 8 · 2025: 12 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 30 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 8 · 2020: 8 · 2019: 6 · 2018: 9 · 2017: 6 · 2016: 5 · 2015: 2 · 2014: 8 · 2013: 11 · 2012: 11
- FWCI
- 3.79
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Complexity (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Origins and Evolution of Life
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Atmospheric Science › Earth Systems and Cosmic Evolution
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › History and Philosophy of Science › Philosophy and History of Science
- Keywords
- origin of life, free energy, energy flow, anabolic pathways, phase transitions, geochemistry, order parameter, chemical specificity
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