From porous rock environments to first life on Earth

Max Planck researcher Martina Preiner has been awarded a Human Frontiers Science Grant

Max Planck research group leader Dr. Martina Preiner receives a prestigious Human Frontiers Science Program (HFSP) grant to study the origin of life. The research project explores the possible role of porous mineral environments in the emergence of life’s chemistry. The international research team focuses on the interplay between organic cofactors (biomolecules that work with enzymes) and primitive peptides within geochemical settings.  

At some point on the way to life as we know it, there must have been a transition from random geochemical reactions to selected, self-sustaining chemistry. Biomolecules known as cofactors (or vitamins) are essential for biochemistry as we know it today. They are crucial helper molecules that partner with enzymes to catalyze biochemical reactions. Compared to enzymes, these versatile molecules are relatively small and simple. Cofactors are present in all organisms and may be relics of time before enzymes. Although simpler than enzymes, cofactors are still too complex to form from random abiotic environments. How these and other essential molecules came to be remains a mystery– as does the general process of self-organization of geochemistry into a life-like system.

A crucial part of this process is the interaction of cofactors with mineral surfaces and primitive peptides (“pieces” of enzymes) enabling the transition from surface-based to enzymatic enhancement of chemical reactions. The ultimate goal of this project is to build mineral pore networks to assemble biomolecules that can interact with the precursors of enzymes.

The team will tackle this goal from three different perspectives by investigating the catalysis of key metabolic reactions at mineral surfaces, the chemistry within porous environments, and by resurrecting ancient enzymes. To do so, the team brings together a unique combination of interdisciplinary expertise, including experimental geochemistry, enzymology, and numerical modelling.

To understand biochemical history, the interacting roles of spatial structure, mineral composition, cofactors, and primitive enzymes must first be disentangled. In other words, the team of researchers have to interrogate the history of reaction control. Only then will it be possible to build self-sustaining reaction networks based on cofactors in the laboratory.

Ultimately, the team hopes to demonstrate how a pre-cellular, proto-enzymatic assembly line could generate the cofactors it needs for its own continuation. The resulting cyclic reaction cycle will shed light on the origin of cofactors in metabolism and ultimately the origin of life itself.

The members of the research team are Martina Preiner (MPI for terrestrial Microbiology), Cole Mathis (Arizona State University) and Liam M. Longo (Earth-Life Science Institute). The team’s application  went through a rigorous year-long selection process in a global competition that started with 111 groups. The team’s proposal was ranked among the top 5 applications.

The Human Frontier Science Program is an international program of research support implemented by the International Human Frontier Science Program Organization (HFSPO) based in Strasbourg, France. Its aims are to promote intercontinental collaboration and training in cutting-edge, interdisciplinary research focused on the life sciences. HFSPO receives financial support from the governments or research councils of Australia, Canada, France, Germany, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, New Zealand, Singapore, Switzerland, UK, USA, as well as from the European Union.