Extraterrestrial Mineral May Have Begun Life on Earth

An extraterrestrial mineral may reveal new clues about the beginnings of biological life on Earth. Scientists are taking a closer look at how meteorites impacting our planet may have had a major impact on the beginnings of life.

In previous work, scientists suggested that the ancient meteorites contained the iron-nickel phosphide mineral "schreibersite." When schreibersite came into contact with Earth's watery environment, a phosphate was released that may have played a role in the development of prebiotic molecules.

In this latest study, the researchers focused on the properties of schreibersite and conducted experiments with the mineral to better understand how, in a chemical reaction with the corrosive effects of water, schreibersite could have provided the phosphate important to the emergence of life.

"Up to ten percent of the Earth's crustal phosphate may have originated from schreibersite, so the mineral was abundant and readily available to engage in early chemical reactions," said Matthew Pasek, one of the researchers, in a news release. "This ready and abundant source of reactive phosphorus may have been an important part of the prebiotic Earth and possibly the planet Mars."

The researchers in this study built an early Earth model of organic-rich aqueous solution in which schreibersite might react and corrode in ways similar to how events occurred on early Earth. This revealed that, in fact, schreibersite did react favorably.

"A thorough exploration of the extent of phosphorylation of nucleosides (made of a base and a five carbon sugar) by schreibersite was necessary to evaluate its potential prebiotic importance," said Maheen Gull, one of the researchers. "All of our experiments indicated that a basic pH, rather than acidic pH, was required for the production of phosphorylated products. Although phosphorylation can take place using a variety of phosphate minerals in non-aqueous solution, prebiotic oxidation in water is more likely given the dominance of water across the solar system."

The findings are published in the journal Scientific Reports.

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