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A Possible Primordial Acetyleno/Carboxydotrophic Core Metabolism
Jessica Sobotta1, Thomas Geisberger1, Carolin Moosmann1
1Lehrstuhl für Biochemie, Department Chemie, Technische Universität München, Lichtenbergstraße 4, 85748 Garching, Germany.
Abstract:
Carbon fixation, in addition to the evolution of metabolism, is a main requirement for the evolution of life. Here, we report a one-pot carbon fixation of acetylene (C2H2) and carbon monoxide (CO) by aqueous nickel sulfide (NiS) under hydrothermal (>100 °C) conditions. A slurry of precipitated NiS converts acetylene and carbon monoxide into a set of C2-4-products that are surprisingly representative for C2-4-segments of all four central CO2-fixation cycles of the domains Bacteria and Archaea, whereby some of the products engage in the same interconversions, as seen in the central CO2-fixation cycles. The results suggest a primordial, chemically predetermined, non-cyclic acetyleno/carboxydotrophic core metabolism. This metabolism is based on aqueous organo-metal chemistry, from which the extant central CO2-fixation cycles based on thioester chemistry would have evolved by piecemeal modifications.
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