ReviewPhilosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences2013
The energetics of organic synthesis inside and outside the cell.
Review in Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 44 papers.
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Who cites it
44 citing papers in PubMed.
- Redox chemistry of early Earth and the origin of life.Communications chemistry · 2026Review
- Redox determines greenhouse gas production kinetics and metabolic traits in water-saturated thawing permafrost peat.ISME communications · 2025Article
- The minimum energy required to build a cell.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Biophysical Interactions Underpin the Emergence of Information in the Genetic Code.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Review
- Evaluating the abiotic synthesis potential and the stability of building blocks of life beneath an impact-induced steam atmosphere.Frontiers in microbiology · 2023Article
- The limits of metabolic heredity in protocells.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2022Article
- Evolutionary Aspects of the Oxido-Reductive Network of Methylglyoxal.Journal of molecular evolution · 2021Article
- Thermodynamics of Potential CHO Metabolites in a Reducing Environment.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Article
- The Energetic Potential for Undiscovered Manganese Metabolisms in Nature.Frontiers in microbiology · 2021Article
- Energy at Origins: Favorable Thermodynamics of Biosynthetic Reactions in the Last Universal Common Ancestor (LUCA).Frontiers in microbiology · 2021Article
- Organic Stabilization of Extracellular Elemental Sulfur in aFrontiers in microbiology · 2021Article
- Redox-informed models of global biogeochemical cycles.Nature communications · 2020Review
- A bioenergetic model to predict habitability, biomass and biosignatures in astrobiology and extreme conditions.Journal of the Royal Society, Interface · 2020Article
- The Future of Origin of Life Research: Bridging Decades-Old Divisions.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2020Article
- Polyesters as a Model System for Building Primitive Biologies from Non-Biological Prebiotic Chemistry.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2020Article
- Bioenergetic characterization of a shallow-sea hydrothermal vent system: Milos Island, Greece.PloS one · 2020Article
- Formate Is Required for Growth of the Thermophilic Acetogenic BacteriumFrontiers in microbiology · 2020Article
- Possible mechanisms of COInterface focus · 2019Article
- Mathematical modeling reveals spontaneous emergence of self-replication in chemical reaction systems.The Journal of biological chemistry · 2018Article
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Thermodynamic modelling of organic synthesis has largely been focused on deep-sea hydrothermal systems. When seawater mixes with hydrothermal fluids, redox gradients are established that serve as potential energy sources for the formation of organic compounds and biomolecules from inorganic starting materials. This energetic drive, which varies substantially depending on the type of host rock, is present and available both for abiotic (outside the cell) and biotic (inside the cell) processes. Here, we review and interpret a library of theoretical studies that target organic synthesis energetics. The biogeochemical scenarios evaluated include those in present-day hydrothermal systems and in putative early Earth environments. It is consistently and repeatedly shown in these studies that the formation of relatively simple organic compounds and biomolecules can be energy-yielding (exergonic) at conditions that occur in hydrothermal systems. Expanding on our ability to calculate biomass synthesis energetics, we also present here a new approach for estimating the energetics of polymerization reactions, specifically those associated with polypeptide formation from the requisite amino acids.
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