Berlin 2024 – scientific programme

Parts | Days | Selection | Search | Updates | Downloads | Help

BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 24: Synthetic life-like systems and Origins of Life

BP 24.6: Talk

Wednesday, March 20, 2024, 16:45–17:00, H 1028

Networks of heat-flow chambers to trigger prebiotic reactions — Thomas Matreux, Paula Aikkila, and •Christof Mast — Systems Biophysics, Center for Nanoscience, LMU, Geschwister-Scholl-Platz 1, 80539 Munich, Germany

Prebiotic chemistry must achieve high yields to kickstart life, despite the complex conditions prevailing on the early Earth. While this is achieved in the laboratory through purification procedures and clearly timed process steps, the question arises as to how prebiotic chemistry can be successful in a homogeneous primordial pond. We investigate the influence of heat flows through networks of thin rock fractures numerically and experimentally. The physical non-equilibrium establishes a wide variety of compound compositions in the different pore sections, enabling different prebiotic chemistry. We test this hypothesis using the example of TMP-triggered glycine dimerization as well as nucleoside phosphorylation taking place in experimental pore systems and find a strong enhancement of yield. Our results show that even the simplest boundary conditions - ubiquitous heat flows and simple rock cracks - can create ideal conditions for prebiotic chemistry.

Keywords: Non-equilibrium physics; thermal gradients; heat flows; Origin of life