On the why's and how's of clay minerals' importance in life's emergence

Simon Duval (1) , Elbert Branscomb (2) , Fabienne Trolard (3) , Guilhem Bourrié (3) , O. Grauby (4) , Vasile Heresanu (4) , Barbara Schoepp-Cothenet (1) , Kilian Zuchan (1) , Michael Russell (5, 6) , Wolfgang Nitschke (1)

1 BIP - Bioénergétique et Ingénierie des Protéines
2 UIUC - University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign [Urbana]
3 EMMAH - Environnement Méditerranéen et Modélisation des Agro-Hydrosystèmes
4 CINaM - Centre Interdisciplinaire de Nanoscience de Marseille
5 NAI - NASA Astrobiology Institute
6 UNITO - Università degli studi di Torino = University of Turin

A possibly prominent role for Green Rust minerals in life's emergence is inferred from a comparison of their structural, mechano-dynamic and electrochemical properties and of the layout of bioenergetic, i.e. free energy converting processes in extant organisms. From fundamental thermodynamic considerations, the conversion of environmental free energy into the decrease of entropy that defines life is an indispensable ingredient for life to emerge. A specific scenario for life's emergence mediated by Green Rust minerals in the framework of the alkaline hydrothermal vent hypothesis is proposed.

Mots clés: Emergence of life; Green Rust; double layered Fe-oxyhydroxides; alkaline vent hypothesis; bioenergetics; fougerite

Domaines: Sciences du Vivant [q-bio]

Simon Duval, Elbert Branscomb, Fabienne Trolard, Guilhem Bourrié, O. Grauby, et al.. On the why's and how's of clay minerals' importance in life's emergence. Applied Clay Science, 2020, 195, pp.105737. ⟨10.1016/j.clay.2020.105737⟩. ⟨hal-02936347⟩