Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-94fs2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-19T10:44:47.626Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Astrobiology in Europe, 20 years of expectations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2021

André Brack Open the ORCID record for André Brack [Opens in a new window]
André Brack*
Affiliation:
CBM UPR 4301, CNRS, Orleans, France
*
Author for correspondence: André Brack, E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

During 20 years, the European astrobiologists collaborated within EANA, the European Astrobiology Network Association, to help European researchers developing astrobiology programmes to share their knowledge, to foster their cooperation, to attract young scientists to this quickly evolving interactive field of research, and to explain astrobiology to the public at large. The experiment of Stanley Miller in 1953 launched the ambitious hope that chemists would be able to shed light on the origins of life by recreating a simple life form in a test tube. However, the dream has not yet been accomplished, despite the great volume of effort and innovation put forward by the scientific community.

Keywords

Chemical automatahydrothermal environmentmineral assistanceOrigins of lifewet-dry cycling
Type
Review Article
Information
International Journal of Astrobiology , Volume 21 , Special Issue 5: Open Question and Next Steps in Astrobiology in Europe – Celebrating 20 Years of EANA , October 2022 , pp. 352 - 355
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

1

André Brack co-founded EANA with Beda Hoffmann, Gerda Horneck and David Wynn-Williams (Brack et al., 2001). The network was formalized in Spring 2001 during the First European Workshop on Exo/Astobiology held in Frascati, Italy.

References

Altwegg, K, Balsiger, H, Bar-Nun, A, Berthelier, J-J, Bieler, A, Bochsler, P, Briois, C, Calmonte, U, Combi, MR, Cottin, H, De Keyser, J, Dhooghe, F, Fiethe, B, Fuselier, SA, Gasc, S, Gombosi, T, Hansen, KC, Haessig, M, Jäckel, A, Kopp, E, Korth, A, Le Roy, L, Mall, U, Marty, B, Mousis, O, Owen, T, Rème, H, Rubin, M, Sémon, T, Tzou, CY, Hunter Waite, J and Wurz, P (2016) Prebiotic chemicals-amino acid and phosphorus-in the coma of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Science Advances 2, e1600285.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Becker, S, Feldmann, J, Wiedemann, S, Okamura, H, Schneider, C, Iwan, K, Crisp, A, Rossa, M, Amatov, T and Carell, T (2019) Unified prebiotically plausible synthesis of pyrimidine and purine RNA ribonucleotides. Science (New York, N.Y.) 366, 76–82.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Benner, SA, Bell, EA, Biondi, E, Brasser, R, Carell, T, Kim, H-J, Mojzsis, SJ, Omran, A, Pasek, MA and Trail, D (2020) When did life likely emerge on earth in an RNA-first process? ChemSystemsChem 2, e1900035.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bernhardt, HS (2012) The RNA world hypothesis: the worst theory of the early evolution of life (except for all the others). Biology Direct 7, 23.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brack, A, Horneck, G and Wynn-Williams, D (2001) Exo/astrobiology in Europe. Origins of Life and Evolution of the Biosphere: The Journal of the International Society for the Study of the Origin of Life 31, 459–480.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Branscomb, E and Russell, MJ (2018) Why the submarine alkaline vent is the most reasonable explanation for the emergence of life. BioEssays 18, e1800208.Google Scholar
Brasier, MD, Matthewman, R, McMahon, S and Wacey, D (2011) Pumice as a remarkable substrate for the origin of life. Astrobiology 11, 725–735.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Budin, I and Szostak, JW (2010) Expanding roles for diverse physical phenomena during the origin of life. Annual Review of Biophysics 39, 245–263.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Campbell, TD, Febrian, R, McCarthy, JT, Kleinschmidt, HE, Forsythe, JG and Bracher, PJ (2019) Prebiotic condensation through wet–dry cycling regulated by deliquescence. Nature Communications 10, 4508.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Camprubí, E, de Leeuw, JW, House, CH, Raulin, F, Russell, MJ, Spang, A, Tirumalai, MR and Westall, F (2019) The emergence of life. Space Science Reviews 215, 56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Damer, B and Deamer, D (2020) The hot spring hypothesis for an origin of life. Astrobiology 20, 429–452.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dass, AV, Jaber, M, Brack, A, Foucher, F, Kee, TP, Georgelin, T and Westall, F (2018) Potential role of inorganic confined environments in prebiotic phosphorylation. Life (Chicago, Ill) 8, 7.Google ScholarPubMed
Deamer, D, Damer, B and Kompanichenko, V (2019) Hydrothermal chemistry and the origin of cellular life. Astrobiology 19, 1523–1537.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Erastova, V, Degiacomi, MT, Fraser, DG and Greenwell, HC (2017) Mineral surface chemistry control for origin of prebiotic peptides. Nature Communications 8, 2033CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ertem, G (2021) Role of minerals in the events leading to the origin of life. Astrobiology 21, 137–150.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fiore, M and Strazewski, P (2016) Prebiotic lipidic amphiphiles and condensing agents on the early earth. Life (Chicago, Ill) 6, 17.Google ScholarPubMed
Fishkis, M (2007) Steps towards the formation of a protocell: the possible role of short peptides. Origins of Life and Evolution of the Biosphere: The Journal of the International Society for the Study of the Origin of Life 37, 537–553.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Forsythe, JG, Yu, S-S, Mamajanov, I, Grover, MA, Krishnamurthy, R, Fernández, FM and Hud, NV (2015) Ester-mediated amide bond formation driven by wet–dry cycles: a possible path to polypeptides on the prebiotic earth. Angewandte Chemie International Edition 54, 9871–9875.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Frenkel-Pinter, M, Samanta, M, Ashkenasy, G and Leman, LJ (2020) Prebiotic peptides: molecular hubs in the origin of life. Chemical Reviews 120, 4707–4765.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gibard, C, Bhowmik, S, Karki, M, Kim, E-K and Krishnamurthy, R (2018) Phosphorylation, oligomerization and self-assembly in water under potential prebiotic conditions. Nature Chemistry 10, 212–217.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gorrell, IB, Henderson, TW, Albdeery, K, Savage, PM and Kee, TP (2017) Chemical transformations in proto-cytoplasmic media. Phosphorus coupling in the silica hydrogel phase. Life (Chicago, Ill) 7, 45.Google ScholarPubMed
Hazen, RM and Sverjensky, DA (2010) Mineral surfaces, geochemical complexities, and the origins of life. Cold Spring Harbor Perspectives in Biology 2, a002162.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Herschy, B, Whicher, A, Camprubi, E, Watson, C, Dartnell, L, Ward, J, Evans, JRG and Lane, N (2014) An origin-of-life reactor to simulate alkaline hydrothermal vents. Journal of Molecular Evolution 79, 213–227.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Higgs, PG and Lehman, N (2015) The RNA world: molecular cooperation at the origins of life. Nature Reviews Genetics 16, 7–17.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Izgu, EC, Björkbom, A, Kamat, NP, Lelyveld, VS, Zhang, W, Jia, TZ and Szostak, JW (2016) N-carboxyanhydride-mediated fatty acylation of amino acids and peptides for functionalization of protocell membranes. Journal of the American Chemical Society 138, 16669–16676.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jordan, SF, Rammu, H, Zheludev, IN, Hartley, AM, Maréchal, A and Lane, N (2019) Promotion of protocell self-assembly from mixed amphiphiles at the origin of life. Nature Ecology & Evolution 3, 1–10.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kindermann, M, Stahl, I, Reimold, M, Pankau, WM and von Kiedrowski, G (2005) Systems. Chemistry: kinetic and computational analysis of a nearly exponential organic replicator. Angewandte Chemie International Edition 44, 6750–6755.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kitadai, N, Oonishi, H, Umemoto, K, Usui, T, Fukushi, K and Nakashima, S (2017) Glycine polymerization on oxide minerals. Origins of Life and Evolution of the Biosphere: The Journal of the International Society for the Study of the Origin of Life 47, 123–143.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kitadai, N, Nishiuchi, K and Takahagi, W (2021) Thermodynamic impact of mineral surfaces on amino acid polymerization: aspartate dimerization on ferrihydrite, anatase and γ-alumina. Minerals 11, 234.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lambert, J-F, Sodupe, M and Ugliengo, P (2012) Prebiotic chemistry. Chemical Society Reviews 41, 5373–5374.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lambert, J-F, Jaber, M, Georgelin, T and Stievano, L (2013) A comparative study of the catalysis of peptide bond formation by oxide surfaces. Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics 15, 13371–13380.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Martin, W, Baross, J, Kelley, D and Russell, MJ (2008) Hydrothermal vents and the origin of life. Nature Reviews Microbiology 6, 805–814.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Martra, G, Deiana, C, Sakhno, Y, Barberis, I, Fabbiani, M, Pazzi, M and Vincenti, M (2014) The formation and self-assembly of long prebiotic oligomers produced by the condensation of unactivated amino acids on oxide surfaces. Angewandte Chemie International Edition 53, 4671–4674.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Maurette, M (2006) Micrometeorites and the Mysteries of Our Origins. Heidelberg, Germany: Springer Berlin.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Milshteyn, D, Damer, B, Havig, J and Deamer, D (2018) Amphiphilic compounds assemble into membranous vesicles in hydrothermal hot spring water but not in seawater. Life (Chicago, Ill) 8, 11.Google ScholarPubMed
Monnard, P-A and Walde, P (2015) Current ideas about prebiological compartmentalization. Life (Chicago, Ill) 5, 1239–1263.Google ScholarPubMed
Nisbet, EG and Sleep, NH (2001) The habitat and nature of early life. Nature 409, 1083–1091.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Patel, BH, Percivalle, C, Ritson, DJ, Duffy, CD, Sutherland, JD (2015) Common origins of RNA, protein and lipid precursors in a cyanosulfidic protometabolism. Nature Chemistry 7, 301–307,CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pizzarello, S and Shock, E (2010) The organic composition of carbonaceous meteorites: the evolutionary story ahead of biochemistry. Cold Spring Harbor Perspectives in Biology 2, a002105.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ranjan, S and Sasselov, DD (2017) Constraints on the early terrestrial surface UV environment relevant to prebiotic chemistry. Astrobiology 17, 169–204.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rojas, J, Duprat, J, Engrand, C, Dartois, E, Delauche, L, Godard, M, Gounelle, M, Carrillo-Sánchez, JD, Pokorný, P and Plane, JMC (2021) The micrometeorite flux at Dome C (Antarctica), monitoring the accretion of extraterrestrial dust on earth. Earth Planet Science Letters 560, 116794.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ruiz-Mirazo, K, Briones, C and de la Escosura, A (2014) Prebiotic systems chemistry: new perspectives for the origins of life. Chemical Reviews 114, 285–366.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schopf, JW, Kudryavtsev, AB, Osterhout, JT, Williford, KH, Kitajima, K, Valley, JW and Sugitani, K (2017) An anaerobic ~3400 Ma shallow-water microbial consortium: presumptive evidence of earth's Paleoarchean anoxic atmosphere. Precambrian Research 299, 309–318.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schrum, JP, Zhu, TF and Szostak, JW (2010) The origins of cellular life. Cold Spring Harbor Perspectives in Biology 2, a002212.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sojo, V, Herschy, B, Whicher, A, Camprubı, E and Lane, N (2016) The origin of life in alkaline hydrothermal vents. Astrobiology 16, 181–197.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Stankiewicz, J and Eckardt, LH (2006) Chembiogenesis 2005 and systems chemistry workshop. Angewandte Chemie International Edition 45, 342–344.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stoddart, JF (2012) From supramolecular to systems chemistry: complexity emerging out of simplicity. Angewandte Chemie International Edition 51, 12902–12903.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Strazewski, P (2019) The essence of systems chemistry. Life (Chicago, Ill) 9, 60–69.Google ScholarPubMed
Wächtershäuser, G (2007) On the chemistry and evolution of the pioneer organism. Chemistry & Biodiversity 4, 584–602.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Westall, F and Brack, A (2018) The importance of water for life. Space Science Reviews 214, 50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Westall, F, Hickman-Lewis, K, Hinman, N, Gautret, P, Campbell, KA, Bréhéret, JG, Foucher, F, Hubert, A, Sorieul, S, Dass, AV, Kee, TP, Georgelin, T and Brack, A (2018) A hydrothermal-sedimentary context for the origin of life. Astrobiology 18, 259–293.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
White, LM, Shibuya, T, Vance, SD, Christensen, LE, Bhartia, R, Kidd, R, Hoffmann, A, Stucky, GD, Kanik, I and Russell, MJ (2020) Simulating serpentinization as it could apply to the emergence of life using the JPL hydrothermal reactor. Astrobiology 20, 307–326.CrossRefGoogle Scholar