The Stepwise Evolution of Early Life Driven by Energy Conservation
Open accessAbstract
Two main theories have emerged for the origin and early evolution of life based on heterotrophic versus chemoautotrophic metabolisms. With the exception of a role for CO, the theories have little common ground. Here we propose an alternative theory for the early evolution of the cell which combines principal features of the widely disparate theories. The theory is based on the extant pathway for conversion of CO to methane and acetate, largely deduced from the genomic analysis of the archaeon Methanosarcina acetivorans. In contrast to current paradigms, we propose that an energy-conservation pathway was the major force which powered and directed the early evolution of the cell. We envision the proposed primitive energy-conservation pathway to have developed sometime after a period of chemical evolution but prior to the establishment of diverse protein-based anaerobic metabolisms. We further propose that energy conservation played the predominant role in the later evolution of anaerobic metabolisms which explains the origin and evolution of extant methanogenic pathways.
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Acetyl thioesters are the most probable entry point of phosphate into metabolism.
“Acetyl thioesters are furthermore the most probable entry point of phosphate into metabolism [42,77,78].”
From Early bioenergetic evolution (2013) · cites this paper as [78]
The WLP is the most ancient carbon fixation pathway known.
“its suggested presence in the deep nodes in the tree of life is in agreement with previous work that has pointed out the WLP as the most ancient carbon fixation pathway known (e.g.Ferry and House 2005;Fuchs 2011;Martin and Sousa 2016;Weiss et al. 2016;Camprubi et al. 2017).”
From The Emergence of Life (2019) · cites this paper as Ferry and House 2005
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- Authors
- Ferry, J. G.
- Affiliations
- Pennsylvania State University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Ferry, J. G.
- ORCID
- Ferry, J. G.
- Venue
- Molecular Biology and Evolution
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2006-03-13
- Volume
- 23
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 1286-1292
- ISSN
- 0737-4038 (ISSN-L)
- 1537-1719
- OpenAlex
- W2170085970
- Cited by
- 123
- References
- 9
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 7 · 2018: 7 · 2017: 8 · 2016: 8 · 2015: 7 · 2014: 9 · 2013: 5 · 2012: 5
- FWCI
- 4.79
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Molecular Biology and Evolution (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- U.S. Department of Energy (FG02-95ER20198, DE‐FG02‐, DEFG0295ER20198)
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NNG05GN50G)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Origins and Evolution of Life
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Evolution and Genetic Dynamics
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › RNA and protein synthesis mechanisms
- Keywords
- origin of life, early evolution of life, energy conservation, carbon monoxide metabolism, Methanosarcina acetivorans, methanogenesis, acetogenesis, heterotrophic metabolism, anaerobic metabolism, chemical evolution, archaea
- MeSH terms
- Origin of Life, Acetates, Adenosine Triphosphate, Carbon Monoxide, Energy Metabolism, Biological Evolution, Methane, Methanosarcina, Genome, Archaeal
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