Thermodynamic Origin of Life

TL;DR

This paper proposes that life originated as a thermodynamic process to maximize entropy production by absorbing and dissipating sunlight, with RNA and DNA playing key roles in this energy transformation on early Earth.

Contribution

It introduces a thermodynamic hypothesis for the origin of life, emphasizing sunlight absorption and dissipation as fundamental processes, and suggests a mechanism for RNA and DNA reproduction without enzymes.

Findings

RNA and DNA efficiently absorb UV light and convert it into heat.

Life's emergence is linked to maximizing Earth's entropy production.

A proposed non-enzymatic mechanism for RNA and DNA replication.

Abstract

Understanding the thermodynamic function of life may shed light on its origin. Life, as are all irreversible processes, is contingent on entropy production. Entropy production is a measure of the rate of the tendency of Nature to explore available microstates. The most important irreversible process generating entropy in the biosphere, and thus facilitating this exploration, is the absorption and transformation of sunlight into heat. Here we hypothesize that life began, and persists today, as a catalyst for the absorption and dissipation of sunlight at the surface of shallow seas. The resulting heat is then efficiently harvested by other irreversible processes such as the water cycle, hurricanes, and ocean and wind currents. RNA and DNA are the most efficient of all known molecules for absorbing the intense ultraviolet light that could have penetrated the dense early atmosphere, and are remarkably rapid in transforming this light into heat in the presence of liquid water. From this perspective, the origin and evolution of life, inseparable from water and the water cycle, can be understood as resulting from the natural thermodynamic imperative of increasing the entropy production of the Earth in its interaction with its solar environment. A mechanism is proposed for the reproduction of RNA and DNA without the need for enzymes, promoted instead through UV light dissipation and the ambient conditions of prebiotic Earth.