A new study argues that reduced phosphorus compounds should be considered as part of the phosphorus biogeochemical cycle. Phosphorus is required for life as we know it and, on Earth today, access to phosphorus is one factor that limits growth in ecosystems. Phosphorus can often been found in living organisms in the form of phosphates (think of the phosphate backbone of DNA and RNA).

It is assumed that phosphorus was also an important biogeochemical element for early life on our planet. However, phosphorus presents some problems for prebiotic chemistry, including its low solubility and poor reactivity. A new study presents a work-around for these issues, which involves processing phosphates into phosphites and phosphonates through oxidation and reduction. The study also has implications for modern phosphorus cycling, where reduced P compounds have increasingly been found to play a role in biogeochemistry on Earth. The research team posits that, “phosphorus is not redox-insensitive and reduced P compounds should be considered as part of the phosphorus biogeochemical cycle.”

The study, “A role for phosphorus redox in emerging and modern biochemistry,” was published in the journal Current Opinion in Chemical Biology. The work was performed at the NSF/NASA Center for Chemical Evolution (CCE) at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Georgia. The CCE is a collaborative program supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the NASA Astrobiology Program.