Prebiotic chemistry: a new modus operandi
Open accessAbstract
A variety of macromolecules and small molecules—(oligo)nucleotides, proteins, lipids and metabolites—are collectively considered essential to early life. However, previous schemes for the origin of life—e.g. the ‘RNA world’ hypothesis—have tended to assume the initial emergence of life based on one such molecular class followed by the sequential addition of the others, rather than the emergence of life based on a mixture of all the classes of molecules. This view is in part due to the perceived implausibility of multi-component reaction chemistry producing such a mixture. The concept of systems chemistry challenges such preconceptions by suggesting the possibility of molecular synergism in complex mixtures. If a systems chemistry method to make mixtures of all the classes of molecules considered essential for early life were to be discovered, the significant conceptual difficulties associated with pure RNA, protein, lipid or metabolism ‘worlds’ would be alleviated. Knowledge of the geochemical conditions conducive to the chemical origins of life is crucial, but cannot be inferred from a planetary sciences approach alone. Instead, insights from the organic reactivity of analytically accessible chemical subsystems can inform the search for the relevant geochemical conditions. If the common set of conditions under which these subsystems work productively, and compatibly, matches plausible geochemistry, an origins of life scenario can be inferred. Using chemical clues from multiple subsystems in this way is akin to triangulation, and constitutes a novel approach to discover the circumstances surrounding the transition from chemistry to biology. Here, we exemplify this strategy by finding common conditions under which chemical subsystems generate nucleotides and lipids in a compatible and potentially synergistic way. The conditions hint at a post-meteoritic impact origin of life scenario.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Small, freshwater pools could provide the Goldilocks conditions for prebiotic chemistry.
“Small, freshwater pools like this could provide the “Goldilocks” conditions for prebiotic chemistry suggested by Powner and Sutherland (2011).”
From The Hot Spring Hypothesis for an Origin of Life (2020) · cites this paper as Powner and Sutherland, 2011
Cites
Szostak, J. W., Bartel, D. P., & Luisi, P. L. (2001) · Nature · doi:10.1038/35053176 · Cited by 1,681 · see citing works
Synthesis of activated pyrimidine ribonucleotides in prebiotically plausible conditions.
Powner, M. W., Gerland, B., & Sutherland, J. D. (2009) · Nature · doi:10.1038/nature08013 · Cited by 1,383 · see citing works
Self-citationActivated Acetic Acid by Carbon Fixation on (Fe,Ni)S Under Primordial Conditions
Huber, C., & Wächtershäuser, G. (1997) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.276.5310.245 · Cited by 714 · see citing works
Roper, M. D. (1983) · Catalysis by metal complexes · doi:10.1007/978-94-009-7040-3_3 · Cited by 685 · see citing works
Template-directed synthesis of a genetic polymer in a model protocell
Mansy, S. S., Schrum, J. P., Krishnamurthy, M., Tobé, S., Treco, D. A., & Szostak, J. W. (2008) · Nature · doi:10.1038/nature07018 · Cited by 684 · see citing works
Segré, D., Ben-Eli, D., Deamer, D. W., & Lancet, D. (2001) · Origins of life and evolution of the biosphere · doi:10.1023/a:1006746807104 · Cited by 620 · see citing works
The α‐Addition of Immonium Ions and Anions to Isonitriles Accompanied by Secondary Reactions
Ugi, I. (1962) · Angewandte Chemie International Edition in English · doi:10.1002/anie.196200081 · Cited by 609 · see citing works
Apel, C. L., Deamer, D. W., & Mautner, M. N. (2002) · Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) - Biomembranes · doi:10.1016/s0005-2736(01)00400-x · Cited by 350 · see citing works
Bolide impacts and the oxidation state of carbon in the Earth's early atmosphere
Kasting, J. F. (1990) · Origins of Life and Evolution of Biospheres · doi:10.1007/bf01808105 · Cited by 277 · see citing works
Pasek, M. A., & Lauretta, D. S. (2005) · Astrobiology · doi:10.1089/ast.2005.5.515 · Cited by 251 · see citing works
Studies in prebiotic synthesis
Sanchez, R. A., & Orgel, L. E. (1970) · Journal of Molecular Biology · doi:10.1016/0022-2836(70)90320-7 · Cited by 250 · see citing works
Prebiotic Synthesis: Phosphorylation in Aqueous Solution
Lohrmann, R., & Orgel, L. E. (1968) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.161.3836.64 · Cited by 188 · see citing works
Thermostability of model protocell membranes
Mansy, S. S., & Szostak, J. W. (2008) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.0805086105 · Cited by 186 · see citing works
Selective Derivatization and Sequestration of Ribose from a Prebiotic Mix
Springsteen, G., & Joyce, G. F. (2004) · Journal of the American Chemical Society · doi:10.1021/ja0483692 · Cited by 122 · see citing works
Breslow, R., & Cheng, Z.-L. (2010) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.1001639107 · Cited by 122 · see citing works
Prebiotic Formation of Cytidine Nucleotides
Tapiéro, C., & Nagyváry, J. (1971) · Nature · doi:10.1038/231042a0 · Cited by 108 · see citing works
Bryant, D. E., & Kee, T. P. (2006) · Chemical Communications · doi:10.1039/b602651f · Cited by 102 · see citing works
An Examination of the Role of Autocatalytic Cycles in the Chemistry of Proposed Primordial Reactions
Blackmond, D. G. (2008) · Angewandte Chemie International Edition · doi:10.1002/anie.200804565 · Cited by 95 · see citing works
The 1953 Stanley L. Miller Experiment: Fifty Years of Prebiotic Organic Chemistry
Lazcano, A., & Bada, J. L. (2003) · Origins of Life and Evolution of Biospheres · doi:10.1023/a:1024807125069 · Cited by 95 · see citing works
Direct Assembly of Nucleoside Precursors from Two‐ and Three‐Carbon Units
Anastasi, C., Crowe, M. A., Powner, M. W., & Sutherland, J. D. (2006) · Angewandte Chemie International Edition · doi:10.1002/anie.200601267 · Cited by 86 · see citing works
Self-citationWas ferrocyanide a prebiotic reagent?
Keefe, A. D., & Miller, S. L. (1996) · Origins of Life and Evolution of Biospheres · doi:10.1007/bf01809851 · Cited by 75 · see citing works
A Stereoelectronic Effect in Prebiotic Nucleotide Synthesis
Choudhary, A., Kamer, K. J., Powner, M. W., Sutherland, J. D., & Raines, R. T. (2010) · ACS Chemical Biology · doi:10.1021/cb100093g · Cited by 51 · see citing works
Self-citationMembrane compartments in prebiotic evolution
Deamer, D. W. (1998) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/cbo9780511626180.010 · Cited by 50 · see citing works
Powner, M. W., & Sutherland, J. D. (2010) · Angewandte Chemie International Edition · doi:10.1002/anie.201001662 · Cited by 49 · see citing works
Self-citationSynthesis of Fatty Acids by a Closed System Fischer-Tropsch Process
Nooner, D. W., & Oró, J. (1979) · Advances in chemistry series · doi:10.1021/ba-1979-0178.ch012 · Cited by 41 · see citing works
Systemes de strecker et apparentes—X
Pascal, R., Taillades, J., & Commeyras, A. (1978) · Tetrahedron · doi:10.1016/0040-4020(78)89038-3 · Cited by 39 · see citing works
Exploratory Studies to Investigate a Linked Prebiotic Origin of RNA and Coded Peptides
Borsenberger, V., Crowe, M. A., Lehbauer, J., Raftery, J., Helliwell, M., Bhutia, K., Cox, T., & Sutherland, J. D. (2004) · Chemistry & Biodiversity · doi:10.1002/cbdv.200490020 · Cited by 38 · see citing works
Self-citationMullen, L. B., & Sutherland, J. D. (2007) · Angewandte Chemie International Edition · doi:10.1002/anie.200700394 · Cited by 27 · see citing works
Self-citationElucidation of an iterative process of carbon-carbon bond formation of prebiotic significance
Loison, A., Dubant, S., Adam, P., & Albrecht, P. (2010) · Astrobiology · doi:10.1089/ast.2009.0441 · Cited by 26 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Prebiotic Systems Chemistry: New Perspectives for the Origins of Life
Ruiz-Mirazo, K., Briones, C., & de la Escosura, A. (2014) · Chemical Reviews · doi:10.1021/cr2004844 · Cited by 930 · see citing works
The Hot Spring Hypothesis for an Origin of Life
Damer, B., & Deamer, D. (2020) · Astrobiology · doi:10.1089/ast.2019.2045 · Cited by 478 · see citing works
“Small, freshwater pools like this could provide the ‘‘Goldilocks’’ conditions for prebiotic chemistry suggested by Powner and Sutherland (2011).”
BackgroundThe Origin of Life—Out of the Blue
Sutherland, J. D. (2016) · Angewandte Chemie International Edition · doi:10.1002/anie.201506585 · Cited by 401 · see citing works
Self-citationThe eightfold path to non-enzymatic RNA replication
Szostak, J. W. (2012) · Journal of Systems Chemistry · doi:10.1186/1759-2208-3-2 · Cited by 359 · see citing works
“While a complete solution to the problem is not yet in hand, major advances have recently been made in this area, primarily from the Sutherland lab [4-6], such that there is now considerable optimism that a robust pathway to the assembly of ribonucleotides and RNA oligomers will eventually be found.”
BackgroundNonenzymatic Metabolic Reactions and Life’s Origins
Muchowska, K. B., Varma, S. J., & Moran, J. (2020) · Chemical Reviews · doi:10.1021/acs.chemrev.0c00191 · Cited by 317 · see citing works
“8,9 14-16 Some is related to the fact that, by prioritizing one single characteristic of life above all others, namely the ability to self-replicate and undergo Darwinian selection, “genetics-first” theories provide very little explanatory power about why other aspects of life work the way they do.”
The Role of Lipid Membranes in Life’s Origin
Deamer, D. (2017) · Life · doi:10.3390/life7010005 · Cited by 261 · see citing works
The Origins of Life: Old Problems, New Chemistries
Mann, S. (2012) · Angewandte Chemie International Edition · doi:10.1002/anie.201204968 · Cited by 252 · see citing works
Opinion: Studies on the origin of life — the end of the beginning
Sutherland, J. D. (2017) · Nature Reviews Chemistry · doi:10.1038/s41570-016-0012 · Cited by 225 · see citing works
Self-citationCurrent Ideas about Prebiological Compartmentalization
Monnard, P., & Walde, P. (2015) · Life · doi:10.3390/life5021239 · Cited by 176 · see citing works
“Prebiotic syntheses of phosphate amphiphiles have been proposed [33,98] that are plausible under prebiotic conditions, e.”
BackgroundPrebiotic Systems Chemistry: Complexity Overcoming Clutter
Islam, S., & Powner, M. W. (2017) · Chem · doi:10.1016/j.chempr.2017.03.001 · Cited by 154 · see citing works
Self-citationPrebiotic synthesis of phosphoenol pyruvate by α-phosphorylation-controlled triose glycolysis
Coggins, A. J., & Powner, M. W. (2017) · Nature Chemistry · doi:10.1038/nchem.2624 · Cited by 113 · see citing works
“Glycolaldehyde phosphate cyanohydrin (14).”
Self-citationSunlight as an energetic driver in the synthesis of molecules necessary for life
Rapf, R. J., & Vaida, V. (2016) · Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics · doi:10.1039/c6cp00980h · Cited by 114 · see citing works
Divergent prebiotic synthesis of pyrimidine and 8-oxo-purine ribonucleotides
Stairs, S., Nikmal, A., Bučar, D.-K., Zheng, S.-L., Szostak, J. W., & Powner, M. W. (2017) · Nature Communications · doi:10.1038/ncomms15270 · Cited by 113 · see citing works
Self-citationA Light-Releasable Potentially Prebiotic Nucleotide Activating Agent
Mariani, A., Russell, D. A., Javelle, T., & Sutherland, J. D. (2018) · Journal of the American Chemical Society · doi:10.1021/jacs.8b05189 · Cited by 110 · see citing works
Self-citationBonfio, C., Godino, E., Corsini, M., Biani, F. F. D., Guella, G., & Mansy, S. S. (2018) · Nature Catalysis · doi:10.1038/s41929-018-0116-3 · Cited by 107 · see citing works
Deal, A. M., Rapf, R. J., & Vaida, V. (2021) · The Journal of Physical Chemistry A · doi:10.1021/acs.jpca.1c02864 · Cited by 105 · see citing works
A Chemist’s Perspective on the Role of Phosphorus at the Origins of Life
Fernández‐García, C., Coggins, A. J., & Powner, M. W. (2017) · Life · doi:10.3390/life7030031 · Cited by 99 · see citing works
Self-citationOut of fuzzy chemistry: from prebiotic chemistry to metabolic networks
Peretó, J. (2012) · Chemical Society Reviews · doi:10.1039/c2cs35054h · Cited by 96 · see citing works
Length-Selective Synthesis of Acylglycerol-Phosphates through Energy-Dissipative Cycling
Bonfio, C., Caumes, C., Duffy, C. D., Patel, B. H., Percivalle, C., Tsanakopoulou, M., & Sutherland, J. D. (2019) · Journal of the American Chemical Society · doi:10.1021/jacs.8b12331 · Cited by 91 · see citing works
Self-citationExploring the emergence of complexity using synthetic replicators
Kosikova, T., & Philp, D. (2017) · Chemical Society Reviews · doi:10.1039/c7cs00123a · Cited by 93 · see citing works
Mimicking the Surface and Prebiotic Chemistry of Early Earth Using Flow Chemistry
Ritson, D. J., Battilocchio, C., Ley, S. V., & Sutherland, J. D. (2018) · Nature Communications · doi:10.1038/s41467-018-04147-2 · Cited by 89 · see citing works
Self-citationLopez, A., & Fiore, M. (2019) · Life · doi:10.3390/life9020049 · Cited by 89 · see citing works
“prompted not only an investigation of the prebiotic synthesis of phospholipids [24,28–32], but also the preparation of mono-alkyl phosphates with even [37,38] and odd numbers [35] of carbon atoms on the long fatty chain.”
BackgroundOcean–Atmosphere Interactions in the Emergence of Complexity in Simple Chemical Systems
Griffith, E. C., Tuck, A. F., & Vaida, V. (2012) · Accounts of Chemical Research · doi:10.1021/ar300027q · Cited by 73 · see citing works
Prebiological Membranes and Their Role in the Emergence of Early Cellular Life
Sarkar, S., Das, S., Dagar, S., Joshi, M. P., Mungi, C. V., Sawant, A. A., Patki, G. M., & Rajamani, S. (2020) · The Journal of Membrane Biology · doi:10.1007/s00232-020-00155-w · Cited by 70 · see citing works
Krishnamurthy, R. (2015) · Israel Journal of Chemistry · doi:10.1002/ijch.201400180 · Cited by 64 · see citing works
Fatty Acid Vesicles and Coacervates as Model Prebiotic Protocells
Martin, N., & Douliez, J. (2021) · ChemSystemsChem · doi:10.1002/syst.202100024 · Cited by 63 · see citing works
Prebiotic Lipidic Amphiphiles and Condensing Agents on the Early Earth
Fiore, M., & Strazewski, P. (2016) · Life · doi:10.3390/life6020017 · Cited by 60 · see citing works
“(a) Formation of peptide bonds using cyanamide (1) as coupling agent (adapted from [70], see also Scheme 2 in [79] and Scheme 1 in [80]); (b) Phosphorylation of long-chain alcohols (formation of APs) using urea and phosphate as condensing agent (adapted from [56]).”
BackgroundMethodInfluentialKarki, M., Gibard, C., Bhowmik, S., & Krishnamurthy, R. (2017) · Life · doi:10.3390/life7030032 · Cited by 58 · see citing works
“This would be in line with previously proposed mechanisms [117] and also congruent with the mechanism of urea participation in phosphonate ester hydrolysis [118].”
MethodResultPrebiotic Origin of Pre‐RNA Building Blocks in a Urea “Warm Little Pond” Scenario
Menor-Salván, C. A., Bouza, M., Fialho, D. M., Burcar, B. T., Fernández, F. M., & Hud, N. V. (2020) · ChemBioChem · doi:10.1002/cbic.202000510 · Cited by 55 · see citing works
Self-Assembly of Phosphate Amphiphiles in Mixtures of Prebiotically Plausible Surfactants
Albertsen, A. N., Duffy, C. D., Sutherland, J. D., & Monnard, P. (2014) · Astrobiology · doi:10.1089/ast.2013.1111 · Cited by 48 · see citing works
“Since a mixture of 1-decanol and decyl phosphate produced vesicles, vesicle formation in the crude reaction mixture used to synthesize decyl phosphate (Powner and Sutherland, 2011) was investigated.”
Self-citationThe difficult case of an RNA-only origin of life
Vay, K. K. L., & Mutschler, H. (2019) · Emerging Topics in Life Sciences · doi:10.1042/etls20190024 · Cited by 46 · see citing works
Roberts, S. J., Szabla, R., Todd, Z. R., Stairs, S., Bučar, D., Šponer, J., Sasselov, D. D., & Powner, M. W. (2018) · Nature Communications · doi:10.1038/s41467-018-06374-z · Cited by 41 · see citing works
Self-citationPrebiotic synthesis initiated in formaldehyde by laser plasma simulating high-velocity impacts
Ferus, M., Pietrucci, F., Saitta, A. M., Ivanek, O., Knížek, A., Kubelík, P., Krůs, M., Juha, L., Dudžák, R., Dostál, J., et al. (2019) · Astronomy and Astrophysics · doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201935435 · Cited by 41 · see citing works
“…relevant molecules in one-pot synthesis: hydrogen cyanide (HCN; Ferus et al. 2017a; Xu et al. 2017; Civis et al. 2017; Sutherland 2016, 2017; Powner & Sutherland 2011; Powner et al. 2011) and its hydration product, formamide (HCONH2; Sponer et al. 2016; Ferus et al. 2015b, 2017b; Rotelli et…”
BackgroundThe Quest for a Universal Theory of Life
Cleland, C. E. (2019) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781139046893 · Cited by 122 · see citing works
Der Ursprung des Lebens: Blausäure
Sutherland, J. D. (2015) · Angewandte Chemie · doi:10.1002/ange.201506585 · Cited by 39 · see citing works
Self-citationFiore, M. (2018) · Organic & Biomolecular Chemistry · doi:10.1039/c8ob00469b · Cited by 39 · see citing works
Darwinian properties and their trade-offs in autocatalytic RNA reaction networks
Ameta, S., Arsène, S., Foulon, S., Saudemont, B., Clifton, B. E., Griffiths, A. D., & Nghe, P. (2021) · Nature Communications · doi:10.1038/s41467-021-21000-1 · Cited by 39 · see citing works
Photochemistry of 2-Aminooxazole, a Hypothetical Prebiotic Precursor of RNA Nucleotides
Szabla, R., Tuna, D., Góra, R. W., Šponer, J., Sobolewski, A. L., & Domcke, W. (2013) · The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters · doi:10.1021/jz401315e · Cited by 34 · see citing works
Chance, necessity and the origins of life: a physical sciences perspective
Hazen, R. M. (2017) · Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A Mathematical Physical and Engineering Sciences · doi:10.1098/rsta.2016.0353 · Cited by 33 · see citing works
Factoring Origin of Life Hypotheses into the Search for Life in the Solar System and Beyond
Longo, A., & Damer, B. (2020) · Life · doi:10.3390/life10050052 · Cited by 33 · see citing works
“A typical Hadean hot spring hosting a population of protocells would have been located on an elevated volcanic island, so a hydrothermal discharge channel could have carried self-assembled protocells and progenote aggregates downhill into increasingly saline bodies of water such as rivers, lakes, and eventually oceans…”
BackgroundFiore, M., Chieffo, C., Lopez, A., Fayolle, D., Ruiz, J., Soulère, L., Oger, P., Altamura, E., Popowycz, F., & Buchet, R. (2022) · Astrobiology · doi:10.1089/ast.2021.0059 · Cited by 34 · see citing works
“Urea at moderate temperatures (Lohrmann and Orgel, 1971; Osterberg and Orgel, 1972; Powner and Sutherland, 2011) and cyanamide and derivatives thereof (Hulshof and Ponnamperuma, 1976; Fiore et al. , 2017) are, among others, the most popular dehy-drating agents in the context of prebiotic chemistry.”
InfluentialRethinking nucleic acids from their origins to their applications
Benner, S. A. (2023) · Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences · doi:10.1098/rstb.2022.0027 · Cited by 33 · see citing works
Two Synthetic Replicators Compete To Process a Dynamic Reagent Pool
Kosikova, T., & Philp, D. (2019) · Journal of the American Chemical Society · doi:10.1021/jacs.8b12077 · Cited by 31 · see citing works
Wie entsteht Leben: Ein altes Problem gebiert neue Chemie
Mann, S. (2012) · Angewandte Chemie · doi:10.1002/ange.201204968 · Cited by 28 · see citing works
Urability: A Property of Planetary Bodies That Can Support an Origin of Life
Deamer, D. W., Cary, F., & Damer, B. (2022) · Astrobiology · doi:10.1089/ast.2021.0173 · Cited by 27 · see citing works
“Summary of urable processing up to protocells Powner and Sutherland (2011) introduced the concept of ‘‘Goldilocks chemistry’’ applied to geochemical settings that are capable of sustaining certain key prebiotic reactions.”
Fiore, M., Madanamoothoo, W., Berlioz‐Barbier, A., Maniti, O., Girard-Egrot, A., Buchet, R., & Strazewski, P. (2017) · Organic & Biomolecular Chemistry · doi:10.1039/c7ob00708f · Cited by 27 · see citing works
Nakatani, Y., Ribeiro, N., Streiff, S., Gotoh, M., Pozzi, G., Désaubry, L., & Milon, A. (2014) · Origins of Life and Evolution of Biospheres · doi:10.1007/s11084-014-9365-6 · Cited by 25 · see citing works
“The conversion of alcohols into the corresponding phosphate esters was achieved using acetic anhydride activation (Dueymes et al. 2008) or imidoyl phosphate activation (Powner and Sutherland 2011) of inorganic phosphate.”
MethodOn the aqueous origins of the condensation polymers of life
Whitaker, D. E., & Powner, M. W. (2024) · Nature Reviews Chemistry · doi:10.1038/s41570-024-00648-5 · Cited by 24 · see citing works
Self-citationThiophosphate photochemistry enables prebiotic access to sugars and terpenoid precursors
Ritson, D. J., & Sutherland, J. D. (2023) · Nature Chemistry · doi:10.1038/s41557-023-01251-9 · Cited by 24 · see citing works
“Additionally, a small amount of glycolaldehyde imine had been reduced to ethanolamine 9 .”
Self-citationExploring the Emergence of RNA Nucleosides and Nucleotides on the Early Earth
Biscans, A. (2018) · Life · doi:10.3390/life8040057 · Cited by 24 · see citing works
“They showed that the favored geochemical conditions for life to arise involve volcanic activities and/or the impact of meteorites, with complex organic chemistry; several sources of energy; and dynamic light–dark, cold–hot, and wet–dry cycles [5].”
BackgroundRacemic Phospholipids for Origin of Life Studies
Altamura, E., Comte, A., D’Onofrio, A., Roussillon, C., Fayolle, D., Buchet, R., Mavelli, F., Stano, P., Fiore, M., & Strazewski, P. (2020) · Symmetry · doi:10.3390/sym12071108 · Cited by 23 · see citing works
Borophosphates and silicophosphates as plausible contributors to the emergence of life
da Silva, J. A. L., & Holm, N. G. (2014) · Journal of Colloid and Interface Science · doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2014.02.034 · Cited by 23 · see citing works
Life’s Order, Complexity, Organization, and Its Thermodynamic–Holistic Imperatives
Egel, R. (2012) · Life · doi:10.3390/life2040323 · Cited by 21 · see citing works
“On the other hand, a substantially novel approach of experimental chemistry, which should become increasingly relevant to origins of life research in the future, has been introduced by Powner, Gerland & Sutherland [47].”
Strazewski, P. (2015) · Israel Journal of Chemistry · doi:10.1002/ijch.201400175 · Cited by 21 · see citing works
A Chemical Engineering Perspective on the Origins of Life
Grover, M. A., He, C., Hsieh, M.-C., & Yu, S. (2015) · Processes · doi:10.3390/pr3020309 · Cited by 21 · see citing works
“Powner and co-workers also demonstrated a one-pot system that generates both nucleosides and lipids [76].”
BackgroundBrown Dwarf Atmospheres as the Potentially Most Detectable and Abundant Sites for Life
Lingam, M., & Loeb, A. (2019) · The Astrophysical Journal · doi:10.3847/1538-4357/ab3f35 · Cited by 21 · see citing works
“Second, we note that NH4H2PO4 has been widely employed in laboratory experiments of prebiotic chemistry.”
MethodInfluentialThe chemical origins of life and its early evolution: an introduction
Lilley, D. M. J., & Sutherland, J. D. (2011) · Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences · doi:10.1098/rstb.2011.0133 · Cited by 19 · see citing works
Self-citationRamal-Olmedo, J. C., Menor-Salván, C. A., Miyoshi, A., & Fortenberry, R. C. (2023) · Astronomy and Astrophysics · doi:10.1051/0004-6361/202245811 · Cited by 20 · see citing works
Origins and Emergent Evolution of Life: The Colloid Microsphere Hypothesis Revisited
Egel, R. (2014) · Origins of Life and Evolution of Biospheres · doi:10.1007/s11084-014-9363-8 · Cited by 20 · see citing works
Experimentally investigating the origin of DNA/RNA on early Earth
Krishnamurthy, R. (2018) · Nature Communications · doi:10.1038/s41467-018-07212-y · Cited by 19 · see citing works
What Does “the RNA World” Mean to “the Origin of Life”?
Ma, W. (2017) · Life · doi:10.3390/life7040049 · Cited by 19 · see citing works
“Indeed, why genetic material and functional material, if different from each other in molecule type, cannot emerge together, especially considering that the “prebiotic pool” may have been a rather complex “soup” [32]? For example, if DNA and RNA could both be synthesized in the prebiotic pool, DNA might act as genetic…”
BackgroundMacrobiont: Cradle for the Origin of Life and Creation of a Biosphere
Clark, B. C., & Kolb, V. M. (2020) · Life · doi:10.3390/life10110278 · Cited by 19 · see citing works
The Origin of Large Molecules in Primordial Autocatalytic Reaction Networks
Giri, V., & Jain, S. (2012) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0029546 · Cited by 19 · see citing works
“d Farmer. Indeed it would be equally applicable if a prebiotic environment actually had a mixture of ingredients from all these classes of chemistries, a possibility that has been advocated in, e.g., [47,48]. Copley, Smith and Morowitz [47] have proposed a scenario which seeks to explain how the RNA world might have o…”
BackgroundCruz, H. A., Jiménez, E. I., & Krishnamurthy, R. (2023) · Journal of the American Chemical Society · doi:10.1021/jacs.3c08539 · Cited by 16 · see citing works
Proton-Induced Damage on 2-Aminooxazole, a Potential Prebiotic Compound
Bacchus-Montabonel, M.-C. (2015) · The Journal of Physical Chemistry A · doi:10.1021/jp511658n · Cited by 16 · see citing works
Predicting species emergence in simulated complex pre-biotic networks
Markovitch, O., & Krasnogor, N. (2018) · PLOS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0192871 · Cited by 19 · see citing works
A Fluorescent G‐Quadruplex Sensor for Chemical RNA Copying
Giurgiu, C., Wright, T. H., O’Flaherty, D. K., & Szostak, J. W. (2018) · Angewandte Chemie International Edition · doi:10.1002/anie.201805785 · Cited by 14 · see citing works
Gaylor, M. O., Miró, P., Vlaisavljevich, B., Kondage, A. A. S., Barge, L. M., Omran, A. P., Videau, P., Swenson, V. A., Leinen, L. J., Fitch, N. W., et al. (2021) · Origins of Life and Evolution of Biospheres · doi:10.1007/s11084-021-09613-4 · Cited by 12 · see citing works
Pioneering role of RNA in the early evolution of life
Muñoz‐Velasco, I., Cruz-González, A., Hernández-Morales, R., Campillo-Balderas, J. A., Cottom-Salas, W., Jácome, R., & Vázquez-Salazar, A. (2024) · Genetics and Molecular Biology · doi:10.1590/1678-4685-gmb-2024-0028 · Cited by 12 · see citing works
“Although ribonucleotides have been produced abiotically using various subsystems, common intermediates, and byproducts to link them (Powner et al ., 2009; Powner and Sutherland, 2011; Sutherland, 2016), several obstacles persist.”
Intellectual frameworks to understand complex biochemical systems at the origin of life
Seelig, B., & Chen, I. A. (2025) · Nature Chemistry · doi:10.1038/s41557-024-01698-4 · Cited by 11 · see citing works
“…reactions in a primitive cell 23,24 ; studying mechanisms by which RNA may be copied without enzymes (or ribozymes) 13,25,26 ; developing self-replicating RNA systems 7,27 ; and determining whether an RNA world would require simple peptides, cofactors or other important non-RNA components 28,29 .”
Search for the Most Primitive Membranes: Some Remaining Problems
Nakatani, Y., Ribeiro, N., Streiff, S., Désaubry, L., & Ourisson, G. (2012) · Origins of Life and Evolution of Biospheres · doi:10.1007/s11084-012-9313-2 · Cited by 11 · see citing works
“Recently, carboxylic-phosphoric mixed anhydrides (Biron and Pascal 2004) and one imidoyl phosphate were shown to phosphorylate alcohols (Powner and Sutherland 2011).”
BackgroundThe evolution of proteome: From the primeval to the very dawn of LUCA
Palacios-Pérez, M., & José, M. V. (2019) · Biosystems · doi:10.1016/j.biosystems.2019.04.007 · Cited by 11 · see citing works
Cleland, C. E. (2019) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781139046893.004 · Cited by 11 · see citing works
Proton impact charge transfer on hydantoin – Prebiotic implications
Bacchus-Montabonel, M.-C. (2016) · Chemical Physics Letters · doi:10.1016/j.cplett.2016.10.008 · Cited by 10 · see citing works
On dating stages in prebiotic chemical evolution
Bywater, R. (2012) · Die Naturwissenschaften · doi:10.1007/s00114-012-0892-6 · Cited by 10 · see citing works
“Further support for the notion that lipids and membranes are critical come from the recognition of the importance of phosphates by authors who sought a prebiotic chemistry that leads to both ribonucleotides and lipids in a single system (Powner and Sutherland 2011).”
BackgroundFerus, M., Knížek, A., Petera, L., Pastorek, A., Hrnčířová, J., Jankovič, Ľ., Ivanek, O., Sponer, J., Křivková, A., Saeidfirozeh, H., et al. (2022) · Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences · doi:10.3389/fspas.2022.882145 · Cited by 8 · see citing works
“Besides, another way to produce 2- iminoacetonitrile (6) is from formamide and HCN.”
BackgroundInfluentialBefore LUCA: unearthing the chemical roots of metabolism
Carbonell, P., & Peretó, J. G. (2025) · Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences · doi:10.1098/rstb.2024.0292 · Cited by 8 · see citing works
Double Emulsion Droplets as a Plausible Step to Fatty Acid Protocells
Douliez, J. (2023) · Small Methods · doi:10.1002/smtd.202300530 · Cited by 8 · see citing works
Directionality theory and the origin of life
Demetrius, L. (2024) · Royal Society Open Science · doi:10.1098/rsos.230623 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
“This strategy is illustrated in the work of Powner & Sutherland [21], in studies that show how chemical subsystems may engender nucleotides and lipids by means of molecular synergism.”
Sebastianelli, L., Kaur, H., Chen, Z., Krishnamurthy, R., & Mansy, S. S. (2024) · Chemistry - A European Journal · doi:10.1002/chem.202400411 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
Hypothesis for Molecular Evolution in the Pre‐Cellular Stage of the Origin of Life
Wang, Y., & Du, Y. (2025) · Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews - RNA · doi:10.1002/wrna.70001 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
Systems Astrochemistry: A New Doctrine for Experimental Studies
Mason, N. J., Hailey, P. A., Mifsud, D. V., & Urquhart, J. S. (2021) · Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences · doi:10.3389/fspas.2021.739046 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
“Although still in its infancy, a systems chemistry framework has already been adopted in the field of prebiotic chemistry to study the assembly of chemical sub-systems into an overall larger system with a focus on its emergent physico-chemical properties (Powner and Sutherland 2011).”
BackgroundPrebiotic triose glycolysis promoted by co-catalytic proline and phosphate in neutral water
Magalhães, Á. F., & Powner, M. W. (2022) · Chemical Communications · doi:10.1039/d2cc05466c · Cited by 7 · see citing works
Self-citationTheoretical investigation of proton collisions on prebiotic candidates: hydrogen cyanide polymers
Bacchus-Montabonel, M.-C. (2017) · Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics · doi:10.1039/c7cp00826k · Cited by 7 · see citing works
Pluralism or unity in biology: could microbes hold the secret to life?
Cleland, C. E. (2013) · Biology & Philosophy · doi:10.1007/s10539-013-9361-7 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
Mulkidjanian, A. Y., Dibrova, D. V., & Bychkov, A. Y. (2025) · Life · doi:10.3390/life15030399 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
Olasagasti, F., Maurel, M., & Deamer, D. W. (2014) · BIO Web of Conferences · doi:10.1051/bioconf/20140205001 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
Shtyrlin, V. G., Borissenok, V. A., Serov, N. Y., Геннадиевич, С. В., Алексеевич, Б. В., Трунин, И. Р., Tereshkina, I. A., Кошкин, С. А., Bukharov, M. S., Gilyazetdinov, E. M., et al. (2019) · Origins of Life and Evolution of Biospheres · doi:10.1007/s11084-019-09575-8 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
Yaman, T., & Harvey, J. N. (2021) · Life · doi:10.3390/life11121343 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
Quantum Dots in Peroxidase-like Chemistry and Formamide-Based Hot Spring Synthesis of Nucleobases
Nejdl, L., Petera, L., Šponer, J. E., Zemánková, K., Pavelicová, K., Knížek, A., Adam, V., Vaculovičová, M., Ivanek, O., & Ferus, M. (2022) · Astrobiology · doi:10.1089/ast.2021.0099 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
Pastorek, A., Clark, V. H. J., Yurchenko, S. N., Ferus, M., & Civiš, S. (2022) · Spectrochimica Acta Part A Molecular and Biomolecular Spectroscopy · doi:10.1016/j.saa.2022.121322 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
A Fluorescent G‐Quadruplex Sensor for Chemical RNA Copying
Giurgiu, C., Wright, T. H., O’Flaherty, D. K., & Szostak, J. W. (2018) · Angewandte Chemie · doi:10.1002/ange.201805785 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
Palacios-Pérez, M., Andrade-Díaz, F., & José, M. V. (2017) · Origins of Life and Evolution of Biospheres · doi:10.1007/s11084-017-9553-2 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
pH‐Responsive Self‐Assembled Compartments as Tuneable Model Protocellular Membrane Systems**
Sarkar, S., Dagar, S., Lahiri, K., & Rajamani, S. (2022) · ChemBioChem · doi:10.1002/cbic.202200371 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
Chemical Routes to Primitive Membranes: Prebiotic Lipid Formation at the Origin of Life
Shvetsova, A., & Fiore, M. (2026) · Life · doi:10.3390/life16030497 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
“Powner and Sutherland [170] performed competitive phosphorylation of mixed-length alkanols under the same conditions that they had suggested for nucleotide synthesis [171].”
Assembly of Replicating Protocells with Primitive Metabolism
Karabaşoğlu, C., Saytas, A., Akgol, B., Mercimek, S., & Toparlak, Ö. D. (2026) · Astrobiology · doi:10.1177/15311074261435277 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
“F ollowing a relatively stagnant era in prebiotic chemistry studies up until the early 2000s (Orgel, 1998), the last two decades have witnessed a surge of ideas on the chemical origins of life (Krishnamurthy, 2017; Powner and Sutherland, 2011; Sasselov et al., 2020; Wo ł os et al., 2020).”
Considerations for Detecting Organic Indicators of Metabolism on Enceladus
Barge, L., & Fournier, G. (2024) · Astrobiology · doi:10.1089/ast.2023.0074 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
“Therefore, there may have been extensive feedstocks of already reduced or partially reduced C available for early cellular life to grow (Delaye and Lazcano, 2005; Powner and Sutherland, 2011).”
Paleos, C. M. (2018) · Astrobiology · doi:10.1089/ast.2018.1832 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
“…compounds in the prebiotic world drove chemical reactions related to biology, including primitive metabolic processes and polymerization (Orgel, 2004; Bruylants et al. , 2011; Powner and Sutherland, 2011; Lambert et al. , 2012; Bada, 2013; Ruiz-Mirazo et al. , 2014; Wagner and Blackmond, 2016).”
Was methionine the molecular trigger of life on early earth?
Vallée, Y., Milet, A., & Rao, K. V. R. (2015) · Phosphorus, sulfur, and silicon and the related elements · doi:10.1080/10426507.2015.1034314 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Role of sulfur in proton-induced collisions of RNA prebiotic precursors
Bacchus-Montabonel, M.-C. (2018) · Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics · doi:10.1039/c8cp07204c · Cited by 3 · see citing works
- Authors
- Powner, M. W., & Sutherland, J. D.
- Affiliations
- University of Manchester (GB)
- Venue
- Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
- Publisher
- The Royal Society
- Published
- 2011-10-27
- Volume
- 366
- Issue
- 1580
- Pages
- 2870-2877
- ISSN
- 0962-8436 (ISSN-L)
- 1471-2970
- PMC
- PMC3158916
- OpenAlex
- W2150067038
- Cited by
- 144
- References
- 29
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 8 · 2022: 12 · 2021: 12 · 2020: 9 · 2019: 24 · 2018: 15 · 2017: 12 · 2016: 4 · 2015: 8 · 2014: 5 · 2013: 4 · 2012: 9
- FWCI
- 3.23
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Origins and Evolution of Life
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › RNA and protein synthesis mechanisms
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Space Science and Extraterrestrial Life
- Keywords
- origin of life, prebiotic chemistry, systems chemistry, RNA world, nucleotide synthesis, lipogenesis, geochemical conditions, oligonucleotides, proteins, metabolites
- MeSH terms
- Origin of Life, Hexanols, Allyl Compounds, Lipid Bilayers, Lipids, Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy, Phosphates, Organophosphates, Phosphorylation, Ribonucleotides, Evolution, Chemical
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
