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Water and Life: The Medium is the Message
Moran Frenkel-Pinter1,2,3, Vahab Rajaei1,2,3, Jennifer B Glass1,4
1NASA Center for the Origins of Life, Atlanta, GA, USA.
Journal of Molecular Evolution
|January 11, 2021
Summary
Water is a crucial participant in cellular metabolism, not just a medium. In E. coli, water molecules are repeatedly involved in biochemical reactions, highlighting its active role in life processes.
Area of Science:
- Biochemistry
- Astrobiology
Background:
- Water is essential for life, serving as the universal solvent and medium for biological processes.
- Its role in metabolism is significant, yet often underestimated beyond its function as a solvent.
Purpose of the Study:
- To quantify the involvement of water in cellular metabolism.
- To investigate the chemical flux and transformations of water within a living cell.
Main Methods:
- Quantification of water's molar concentration among metabolites in *Escherichia coli*.
- Calculation of water's chemical flux and its involvement in biochemical reactions.
- Tracking the transformations and catalytic involvement of water molecules during cell replication.
Main Results:
- Water constitutes 99.4% of metabolites by molar concentration in *E. coli*.
- 33-50% of known biochemical reactions involve water as a reactant or product.
- An average water molecule participates in approximately 3.7 chemical transformations or catalytic events per cell replication cycle.
Conclusions:
- Water is not merely a biological medium but an active chemical participant in metabolism.
- The dynamic chemical involvement of water provides insights into extant biochemistry and the origins of life.
- The co-evolution of metabolism and water's chemical role may reconcile origin-of-life theories.
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