Article
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Preserved in Portico This version is not peer-reviewed
Did Biology Emerge from Biotite in Micaceous Clay?
Version 1
: Received: 16 September 2020 / Approved: 17 September 2020 / Online: 17 September 2020 (13:01:15 CEST)
Version 2 : Received: 4 November 2020 / Approved: 5 November 2020 / Online: 5 November 2020 (10:43:44 CET)
Version 2 : Received: 4 November 2020 / Approved: 5 November 2020 / Online: 5 November 2020 (10:43:44 CET)
How to cite: Hansma, H.G. Did Biology Emerge from Biotite in Micaceous Clay?. Preprints 2020, 2020090409. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202009.0409.v1 Hansma, H.G. Did Biology Emerge from Biotite in Micaceous Clay?. Preprints 2020, 2020090409. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202009.0409.v1
Abstract
An origin of life between the sheets of micaceous clay is proposed to involve the following steps: 1) evolution of metabolic cycles and nucleic acid replication, in separate niches in biotite mica; 2) evolution of protein synthesis on ribosomes formed by liquid-in-liquid phase separation; 3) repeated encapsulation by membranes of molecules required for the metabolic cycles, replication, and protein synthesis; 4) interactions and fusion of the these membranes containing enclosed molecules; resulting eventually in 5) an occasional living cell, containing everything necessary for life. The spaces between mica sheets have many strengths as a site for life’s origins: mechanochemistry and wet-dry cycles as energy sources, an 0.5-nm anionic crystal lattice with potassium counterions (K+), hydrogen-bonding, enclosure, and more. Mica pieces in micaceous clay are large enough to support mechanochemistry from moving mica sheets. Biotite mica is an iron-rich mica capable of redox reactions, where the stages of life’s origins could have occurred, in micaceous clay.
Keywords
clay; mica; biotite; muscovite; origin of life; origins of life; mechanical energy; work; wet-dry cycles
Subject
Biology and Life Sciences, Life Sciences
Copyright: This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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