Abstract
Energy is the key issue of all life activities. The energy source and energy yielding pathway are the key scientific issues of the origin and early evolution of life on Earth. Current researches indicate that the utilization of solar energy in large scale by life was an important breaking point of the early evolution of life on Earth and afterwards life gradually developed and flourished. However, in the widespread biochemical electron transfer of life activities, it is still not clear whether the electron source is sun or how electrons originated from sun. For billions of years, the ubiquitous semiconducting minerals in epigeosphere absorb solar energy, forming photoelectrons and photoholes. In reductive and weak acidic environment of early Earth, when photoholes were easily scavenged by reducing matters, photoelectrons were separated. Photoelectrons could effectively reduce carbon dioxide to organic matters, possibly providing organic matter foundation for the origin of life. Photoelectrons participated in photoelectron transfer chains driven by potential difference and transfer into primitive cells to maintain metabolisms. Semiconducting minerals, by absorbing ultraviolet, also protected primitive cells from being damaged by ultraviolet in the origin of life. Due to the continuous photoelectrons generation in semiconducting minerals and utilization by primitive cells, photoelectrons from semiconducting minerals’ photocatalysis played multiple roles in the origin of life on early Earth, such as organic synthesis, cell protection, and energy supply. This mechanism still plays important roles in modern Earth surface systems.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Blankenship R E, Tiede D M, Barber J, et al. 2011. Comparing photosynthetic and photovoltaic efficiencies and recognizing the potential for improvement. Science, 332: 805–809
Chen Y, Lu A, Li Y, et al. 2011. Naturally occurring sphalerite as a novel cost-effective photocatalyst for bacterial disinfection under visible light. Environ Sci Technol, 45: 5689–5695
Chyba C, Sagan C. 1992. Endogenous production, exogenous delivery and impact-shock synthesis of organic molecules: an inventory for the origins of life. Nature, 355: 125–32
Ding H, Li Y, Lu A, et al. 2010. Photocatalytically improved azo dye reduction in a microbial fuel cell with rutile-cathode. Bioresource technology, 101: 3500–3505
Gorby Y A, Yanina S, McLean J S, et al. 2006. Electrically conductive bacterial nanowires produced by Shewanella oneidensis strain MR-1 and other microorganisms. Proc Natl Acad Sci, 103: 11358–11363
Guzman M I, Martin S T. 2009. Prebiotic metabolism: Production by mineral photoelectrochemistry of α-ketocarboxylic acids in the reductive tricarboxylic acid cycle. Astrobiology, 9: 833–842
Haldane J B S. 1929. The origin of life. Rationalist Annual, 148: 3–10
Hernandez M E, Newman D K. 2001. Extracellular electron transfer. Cell Mol Life Sci, 58: 1562–1571
Kelley D S, Karson J A, Blackman D K, et al. 2001. An off-axis hydrothermal vent field near the Mid-Atlantic Ridge at 30 N. Nature, 412: 145–149
Lane N, Allen J F, Martin W. 2010. How did LUCA make a living? Chemiosmosis in the origin of life. Bio Essays, 32: 271–280
Li Y, Lu A, Wang C. 2007. Visible light-induced photoreductive activity of natural Fe-bearing sphalerite (in Chinese). Acta Petrol Mineral, 26: 481–486
Lovley D R, Coates J D, Blunt-Harris E L, et al. 1996. Humic substances as electron acceptors for microbial respiration. Nature, 382: 445–448
Lu A. 2001. Basic Properties of Environmental Mineral Materials: Natural Self-purification of Inorganic Minerals (in Chinese). Acta Petrol Mineral, 22: 323–331
Lu A, Li Y, Jin S, et al. 2012. Growth of non-phototrophic microorganisms using solar energy through mineral photocatalysis. Nat Commun, 3: 768–775
Lu A, Li Y, Jin S, et al. 2012. Growth of non-phototrophic microorganisms using solar energy through mineral photocatalysis. Nat Commun, 3: 768–775
Lu A, Li Y, Wang X, et al. 2013. The utilization of solar energy by non-phototrophic microorganisms through semiconducting minerals (in Chinese). Microbiol China, 40: 190–202
Martin W F. 2011. Early evolution without a tree of life. Biol Direct, 6: 1–25
Mulkidjanian A, Bychkov A, Dibrova D, et al. 2012. Origin of first cells at terrestrial, anoxic geothermal fields. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA, 109: E821–E830
Nielsen L P, Risgaard-Petersen N, Fossing H, et al. 2010. Electric currents couple spatially separated biogeochemical processes in marine sediment. Nature, 463: 1071–1074
Nisbet E G. 1987. The Young Earth: An Introduction to Archaean Geology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Nisbet E G, Fowler C M R.1996. Some liked it hot. Nature, 382: 404–405
Nisbet E G, Sleep N H. 2001. The habitat and nature of early life. Nature, 409: 1083–1091
Newman D K, Kolter R. 2000. A role for excreted quinones in extracellular electron transfer. Nature, 4: 94–97
Pfeffer C, Larsen S, Song J, et al. 2012. Filamentous bacteria transport electrons over centimetre distances. Nature, 491: 218–221
Powner M W, Gerland B, Sutherland J D. 2009. Synthesis of activated pyrimidine ribonucleotides in prebiotically plausible conditions. Nature, 459: 239–242
Reguera G, McCarthy K D, Mehta T, et al. 2005. Extracellular electron transfer via microbial nanowires. Nature, 435: 1098–1101
Schidlowski M. 1988. A 3800 million-year old record of life from carbon in sedimentary rocks. Nature, 333: 313–318
Schidlowski M. 1998. Beginnings of terrestrial life: Problems of the early record and implications for extraterrestrial scenarios. In: SPIE’s International Symposium on Optical Science, Engineering, and Instrumentation. International Society for Optics and Photonics. 149-157
Schoonen M, Xu Y, Strongin D. 1998. An introduction to geocatalysis. J Geochem Explor, 68: 201–215
Sleep N H, Meibom A, Fridriksson T, et al. 2004. H2-rich fluids from serpentinization: geochemical and biotic implications. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA, 101: 12818–12823
Stüeken E E, Anderson R E, Bowman J S, et al. 2013. Did life originate from a global chemical reactor? Geobiology, 11: 101–126
Urey H C. 1962. Life-Forms in Meteorites: Origin of Life-like Forms in Carbonaceous Chondrites Introduction. Nature, 193: 1119–1123
Vaughan D J. 2006. Sulfide mineralogy and geochemistry. Chantilly: Mineralogical Sociaty of America
Weber K A, Achenbach L A, Coates J D. 2006. Microorganisms pumping iron: Anaerobic microbial iron oxidation and reduction. Nat Rev Microbiol, 4: 752–764
Wigginton N, Haus K, Hochella M. 2007. Aquatic environmental nanoparticles. J Environ Monit, 9: 1306–1316
Xiong Y, Shi L, Chen B, et al. 2006. High-affinity binding and direct electron transfer to solid metals by the Shewanella oneidensis MR-1 Outer Membrane c-type Cytochrome OmcA. J Am Chem Soc, 128: 13978–13979
Xu Y, Schoonen M A. 2000. The absolute energy positions of conduction and valence bands of selected semiconducting minerals. Am Mineral, 85: 543–556
Zhang X V, Ellery S P, Friend C M, et al. 2007. Photodriven reduction and oxidation reactions on colloidal semiconductor particles: Implications for prebiotic synthesis. J Photoch Photobio A, 185: 301–311
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Lu, A., Wang, X., Li, Y. et al. Mineral photoelectrons and their implications for the origin and early evolution of life on Earth. Sci. China Earth Sci. 57, 897–902 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11430-014-4820-9
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11430-014-4820-9