Evidence map›Paper›PMID 37601379›Full record

ReviewFrontiers in microbiology2023

On the potential roles of phosphorus in the early evolution of energy metabolism.

Jack W F Nicholls, Jason P Chin, Tom A Williams, Timothy M Lenton, Vincent O'Flaherty, John W McGrath

Abstract readReview
In one paragraph

Review in Frontiers in microbiology, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
18citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

18 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Article
  5. Review
  6. The return of metabolism: biochemistry and physiology of glycolysis.Biological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society · 2026
    Review
  7. Ortho-phosphiteACS central science · 2026
    Article
  8. Article
  9. Widespread promiscuous alkaline phosphatases underscore ancient microbial phosphite utilization.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025
    Article
  10. Article
  11. Article
  12. Article
  13. Article
  14. Article
  15. Article
  16. Evolution of phosphate scouting in the terrestrial biosphere.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2024
    Review
  17. Article
  18. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

Jack W F NichollsSchool of Biological Sciences, Queen's University of Belfast, Belfast, United Kingdom.
Jason P ChinSchool of Biological Sciences, Queen's University of Belfast, Belfast, United Kingdom.
Tom A WilliamsSchool of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom.
Timothy M LentonGlobal Systems Institute, University of Exeter, Exeter, United Kingdom.
Vincent O'FlahertySchool of Natural Sciences, University of Galway, Galway, Ireland.
John W McGrathSchool of Biological Sciences, Queen's University of Belfast, Belfast, United Kingdom.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Energy metabolism in extant life is centered around phosphate and the energy-dense phosphoanhydride bonds of adenosine triphosphate (ATP), a deeply conserved and ancient bioenergetic system. Yet, ATP synthesis relies on numerous complex enzymes and has an autocatalytic requirement for ATP itself. This implies the existence of evolutionarily simpler bioenergetic pathways and potentially primordial alternatives to ATP. The centrality of phosphate in modern bioenergetics, coupled with the energetic properties of phosphorylated compounds, may suggest that primordial precursors to ATP also utilized phosphate in compounds such as pyrophosphate, acetyl phosphate and polyphosphate. However, bioavailable phosphate may have been notably scarce on the early Earth, raising doubts about the roles that phosphorylated molecules might have played in the early evolution of life. A largely overlooked phosphorus redox cycle on the ancient Earth might have provided phosphorus and energy, with reduced phosphorus compounds potentially playing a key role in the early evolution of energy metabolism. Here, we speculate on the biological phosphorus compounds that may have acted as primordial energy currencies, sources of environmental energy, or sources of phosphorus for the synthesis of phosphorylated energy currencies. This review encompasses discussions on the evolutionary history of modern bioenergetics, and specifically those pathways with primordial relevance, and the geochemistry of bioavailable phosphorus on the ancient Earth. We highlight the importance of phosphorus, not only in the form of phosphate, to early biology and suggest future directions of study that may improve our understanding of the early evolution of bioenergetics.

Indexed as

acetyl phosphateadenosine triphosphate (ATP)bioenergeticslast universal common ancestor (LUCA)origins of lifephosphitepolyphosphateprimordial metabolism

Identifiers

PMID37601379
PMCPMC10433651

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.