The aqueous alteration of ultramafic rocks, i.e. serpentinization, generates molecular hydrogen, a process of keen interest in origins of life research. While active submarine serpentinization systems like the Lost City hydrothermal vent field are often considered analogues for serpentinization systems on early Earth, significant differences in modern and ancient seawater chemistry and...
The early evolution of life must have gone through a stage where catalytic RNAs (ribozymes) provided many functions that are today fulfilled by proteins. This idea is supported by the requirement of the ribosome (a catalytic RNA) for the synthesis of proteins in all known life forms, by the abundance of nucleotide-based cofactors, and by the ability of RNAs to catalyze a broad spectrum of...
