Sulfur is a fundamental element of life and all organisms need it to synthesize cellular materials. Autotrophs, such as plants and algae, acquire sulfur by converting sulfate into sulfide, which […]
Metabolism
Posted inBiochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Origin & Evolution of Life, Status Report
Prebiotic Synthesis of Aspartate Using Life’s Metabolism as a Guide
A protometabolic approach to the origins of life assumes that the conserved biochemistry of metabolism has direct continuity with prebiotic chemistry. One of the most important amino acids in modern […]
Posted inBiochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Origin & Evolution of Life, Status Report
Early Earth Life: Oxidative Phosphorus Chemistry Perturbed By Minerals
Life is a complex, open chemical system that must be supported with energy inputs. If one fathoms how simple early life must have been, the complexity of modern-day life is […]
Posted inBiochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Origin & Evolution of Life, Press Release
NB-2Ni aka “Nickleback” – A Substance That May Have Sparked Life On Earth
A team of Rutgers scientists dedicated to pinpointing the primordial origins of metabolism – a set of core chemical reactions that first powered life on Earth – has identified part […]
Posted inBiochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Origin & Evolution of Life, Press Release
Metabolic Homeostasis And Growth In Abiotic Cells
Metabolism constitutes the core chemistry of life. How it began on the early Earth and whether it had a cellular origin is still uncertain.
Posted inBiochemistry & Organic Chemistry
The Origins Of Metabolism
Sheding light on one of the most enduring mysteries of science: How did metabolism – the process by which life powers itself by converting energy from food into movement and […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Press Release
Scripps Research Team Proves Plausibility of New Primordial Pathway to Life’s Chemical Building Blocks
For decades, chemists considered a chemical pathway known as the formose reaction the only route for producing sugars essential for life to begin, but more recent research has called into […]