On the Origin of Life on Earth: The Nanozymes Hypothesis, and More - Mander

>Abstract > >The origin of life (OoL) is a fundamental and long-standing scientific question. Although a variety of plausible hypotheses had been put forward, how life began on the prebiotic Earth from a pile of prehistoric inert chemicals (gases) is still a puzzle to us. Here, to unify the existing hypotheses to cover the entire scenarios, the author proposed the “nanozymes hypothesis” of the OoL on Earth, in which natural mineral nanozymes (MN-zymes) and their later upgraded organic/inorganic hybridized nanozymes played multiple key roles in the initial emergence of life molecules, especially in the manner of “inorganic photosynthesis” under primitive Earth conditions. Under the hypothesis framework, proteins, DNA, and RNA might emerged near-simultaneously, as a result of the diversity of nanozymes and catalyses, and multiple physical and chemical key roles of the MN-zymes. Besides nanozyme aspects, several fundamental and key issues on the topic are briefly discussed and several essential elements and conditions for the natural selection and survival of life molecules are proposed.