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Michael Russell
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Interest: The emergence of life and of oxygenic photosynthesis

The discovery of fossil hydrothermal chimneys in Ireland got us interested in the emergence of life, particularly in a hydrothermal source of energy and substrate.

1. We suggest that basic to life’s emergence was the formation of mineral compartments across which steep redox, pH, ionic and temperature gradients were poised. The pH gradient acting across the inorganic membrane (acid outside, alkaline inside) constituted a natural protonmotive force, and the redox gradient could augment this force by chemiosmosis. The energy focused across the barrier in this way is commensurate with that required by all life. Also the compartments solve the “concentration problem”.

2. The theory predicted the discovery of off-ridge alkaline hydrothermal springs of moderate temperature by Kelley et al. (2001, 2005).

3. As expected, these springs contain significant (i.e., 15 mmol/litre) H2, which could reduce the CO2 concentrated in the first oceans on this and other comparable planets. This process evolved from a geochemical feedback system to an autogenic metabolism.

4. We are impressed by the structural similarity between greigite (a Ni-Fe-sulfide) and the active centres of various essential proteins that must have existed within the first microbes (e.g., CODH/ACS & ferredoxins). Theoretically it is possible for moieties of this mineral structure to be sequestered by short achiral peptides and the whole to act as the first electron transfer agents, hydrogenases and synthetases.

5. Echoing early workers such as Fuchs, Wood and Edwards, it seems that metals and metal sulfides were first to do the biochemical work of CO2 fixation, and that the acetyl-coenzyme-A pathway developed first in an alkaline hydrothermal mound – a mound that acted as a flow reactor and affinity column. The generation of acetate and methane during serpentinization may be speeded up in the mound and eventually “quickened” through the onset of life at the same site. The different outcomes of reduction, to acetate- or methane-generating metabolists, may have gelled genetically to produce representatives of the two prokaryotic domains, viz., the acetogenic bacteria and the methanoarchaea

6. The continued coupling between life and convection may also explain the onset of oxygenic photosynthesis. A feature of this model is that a Ca-Mn-oxide entity in littoral manganiferous sediments obducted to the photic zone, was co-opted as the Oxygen-Evolving Complex by PS2 in the cyanobacterial ancestor. If so, it would appear that both chemosynthesis and oxygenic photosynthesis emerged within the confines of mineral constituents (Ni-Fe sulfides and Ca-Mn oxides respectively) — constituents that were then co-opted as catalysts by their prokaryotic hosts.

7. Experiments are underway to test the idea that a Hadean hydrothermal mound would act as a flow-through chemical reactor and affinity column to produce organic molecules from CO2 and H2.

Current Projects

NAI Project Collaborators

Publications

  • Barge, L. M., Doloboff, I. J., Russell, M. J., VanderVelde, D., White, L. M., Stucky, G. D., … Kanik, I. (2014). Pyrophosphate synthesis in iron mineral films and membranes simulating prebiotic submarine hydrothermal precipitates. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 128, 1–12. doi:10.1016/j.gca.2013.12.006

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  • Branscomb, E., & Russell, M. J. (2013). Turnstiles and bifurcators: The disequilibrium converting engines that put metabolism on the road. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) – Bioenergetics, 1827(2), 62–78. doi:10.1016/j.bbabio.2012.10.003

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  • Ducluzeau, A-L., Van Lis, R., Duval, S., Schoepp-Cothenet, B., Russell, M. J., & Nitschke, W. (2009). Was nitric oxide the first deep electron sink?. Trends in Biochemical Sciences, 34(1), 9–15. doi:10.1016/j.tibs.2008.10.005

    See Project

  • McGlynn, S. E., Kanik, I., & Russell, M. J. (2012). Peptide and RNA contributions to iron-sulphur chemical gardens as life’s first inorganic compartments, catalysts, capacitors and condensers. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, 370(1969), 3007–3022. doi:10.1098/rsta.2011.0211

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  • Mielke, R. E., Robinson, K. J., White, L. M., McGlynn, S. E., McEachern, K., Bhartia, R., … Russell, M. J. (2011). Iron-Sulfide-Bearing Chimneys as Potential Catalytic Energy Traps at Life’s Emergence. Astrobiology, 11(10), 933–950. doi:10.1089/ast.2011.0667

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  • Mielke, R. E., Russell, M. J., Wilson, P. R., McGlynn, S. E., Coleman, M., Kidd, R., & Kanik, I. (2010). Design, Fabrication, and Test of a Hydrothermal Reactor for Origin-of-Life Experiments. Astrobiology, 10(8), 799–810. doi:10.1089/ast.2009.0456

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  • Nitschke, W., & Russell, M. J. (2013). Beating the acetyl coenzyme A-pathway to the origin of life. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 368(1622), 20120258–20120258. doi:10.1098/rstb.2012.0258

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  • Nitschke, W., McGlynn, S. E., Milner-White, E. J., & Russell, M. J. (2013). On the antiquity of metalloenzymes and their substrates in bioenergetics. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) – Bioenergetics, 1827(8-9), 871–881. doi:10.1016/j.bbabio.2013.02.008

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  • Russell, M. J., Nitschke, W., & Branscomb, E. (2013). The inevitable journey to being. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 368(1622), 20120254–20120254. doi:10.1098/rstb.2012.0254

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  • Schoepp-Cothenet, B., Van Lis, R., Atteia, A., Baymann, F., Capowiez, L., Ducluzeau, A-L., … Nitschke, W. (2013). On the universal core of bioenergetics. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) – Bioenergetics, 1827(2), 79–93. doi:10.1016/j.bbabio.2012.09.005

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  • Schoepp-Cothenet, B., Van Lis, R., Philippot, P., Magalon, A., Russell, M. J., & Nitschke, W. (2012). The ineluctable requirement for the trans-iron elements molybdenum and/or tungsten in the origin of life. Scientific Reports, 2. doi:10.1038/srep00263

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  • Shibuya, T., Tahata, M., Ueno, Y., Komiya, T., Takai, K., Yoshida, N., … Russell, M. J. (2013). Decrease of seawater CO2 concentration in the Late Archean: An implication from 2.6Ga seafloor hydrothermal alteration. Precambrian Research, 236, 59–64. doi:10.1016/j.precamres.2013.07.010

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  • Wolfe-Simon, F., Blum, J. S., Kulp, T. R., Gordon, G. W., Hoeft, S. E., Pett-Ridge, J., … Oremland, R. S. (2010). A Bacterium That Can Grow by Using Arsenic Instead of Phosphorus. Science, 332(6034), 1163–1166. doi:10.1126/science.1197258

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  • Kanik, I., Russell, M.J., Hodyss, R.P. & Johnson, P.V.  (14–18 December 2009).  Acetate: A better astrobiological indicator of life than methane?  AGU Fall Meeting.  San Francisco, California, USA. See Project
  • Martin, W.J., Baross, J., Kelley, D. & Russell, M.J.  (2008).  Hydrothermal vents and the origin of life.  Nature Reviews Microbiology, 6: 805-814. See Project
  • Milner-White, E.J. & Russell, M.J.  (2010).  Polyphosphate-Peptide Synergy and the Organic Takeover at the Emergence of Life.  Journal of Cosmology, 10: 3217-3229. See Project
  • Nitschke, W. & Russell, M.J.  (2010).  Just Like the Universe the Emergence of Life had High Enthalpy and Low Entropy Beginnings.  Journal of Cosmology, 10: 3200-3216. See Project
  • Russell, M.J. & Hall, A.J.  (2009).  A hydrothermal source of energy and materials at the origin of life. In “Chemical Evolution II: From Origins of Life to Modern Society”.  American Chemical Society, in press. See Project
  • Russell, M.J. & Hall, A.J.  A hydrothermal source of energy and materials a the origin of life [Book Chapter].  Chemical Evolution II: From Origins of Life to Modern Society. See Project
  • Russell, M.J. & Kanik, I.  (2010).  Why Does Life Start, What Does It Do, Where Will It Be, And How Might We Find It?  Journal of Cosmology, 5: 1008-1039. See Project
  • Russell, M.J.  (2011).  Origins, Abiogenesis and the search for Life.  Cambridge: Cosmology Science. See Project
  • Russell, M.J.  (2011).  The origin of life.  Encyclopaedia of Geobiology.  Netherlands: Reitner, J and Thiel, V. Singer. See Project
  • Schoepp-Cothenet, B., v.L., R., P., P., M., A., R-W. & Russell, M.J.  (2011).  A peptide era heralding the emergence of life.  Genes, 2: 671-688. See Project
  • White, L., Bhartia, R., Stucky, G., Kanik, I. & Russell, M.  (2012, Submitted).  Determining Catalytic Iron-sulfide Species in Ancient Alkaline Hydrothermal Vent Systems.  Earth and Planetary Science. See Project
  • White, L.M., Bhartia, R., Stucky, G.D., Kanik, I. & Russell, M.J.  (In Review).  Characterizing compositional variations in catalytic iron-sulfide species in ancient alkaline hydrothermal vent systems.  Earth and Planetary Science Letters. See Project
  • Yung, Y.L., Russell, M.J. & Parkinson, C.D.  (2010).  The search for life on Mars.  Journal of Cosmology, 5: 1121-1130. See Project
  • View all 26 publications

Past NAI Teams