Discovery of an alternative organic synthesis route in hydrothermal environments

Publication of the LGL-TPE in the journal Nature Communications on January 21, 2023. Communication of the CNRS-INSU on February 3, 2023. The abiotic reactions that allow the formation of complex, potentially prebiotic organic molecules are a missing key to determining where life may have emerged. The limited variety and simplicity of the abiotic organic molecules observed have long discredited the theory of a hydrothermal origin for the emergence of life on Earth. A research team, involving scientists from the LGL-TPE, proposes an alternative hypothesis. How simple abiotic organic compounds evolve toward more complex molecules of potentially prebiotic importance remains a missing key to establish where life possibly emerged. The limited variety of abiotic organics, their low concentrations and the possible pathways identified so far in hydrothermal fluids have long hampered a unifying theory of a hydrothermal origin for the emergence of life on Earth.