Synthesis and stability of biomolecules in C-H-O-N fluids under Earth's upper mantle conditions

TL;DR

This study uses ab initio molecular dynamics simulations to demonstrate that complex biomolecules can form and remain stable in Earth's upper mantle conditions, suggesting a potential pathway for life's origins from deep Earth geofluids.

Contribution

It reveals that organic molecules like glycine, ribose, urea, and uracil-like compounds can form and persist under extreme P-T conditions without catalysts, providing new insights into abiotic biomolecule synthesis.

Findings

Organic molecules are stable in C-H-O-N fluids at high P-T conditions.

Five-membered-ring ribose forms are predominant at extreme conditions.

C-N bonds are thermodynamically stable at 10 GPa and 1400 K.

Abstract

How life started on Earth is an unsolved mystery. There are various hypotheses for the location ranging from outer space to the seafloor, subseafloor or potentially deeper. Here, we applied extensive ab initio molecular dynamics (AIMD) simulations to study chemical reactions between NH$_3$, H$_2$O, H$_2$, and CO at pressures (P) and temperatures (T) approximating the conditions of Earth's upper mantle (i.e. 10-13 GPa, 1000-1400 K). Contrary to the previous assumptions that larger organic molecules might readily disintegrate in aqueous solutions at extreme P-T conditions, we found that many organic compounds formed without any catalysts and persisted in C-H-O-N fluids under these extreme conditions, including glycine, ribose, urea, and uracil-like molecules. Particularly, our free energy calculations showed that the C-N bond is thermodynamically stable at 10 GPa and 1400 K. Moreover, while the pyranose (six-membered-ring) form of ribose is more stable than the furanose (five-membered-ring) form at ambient conditions, we observed the predominant formation of the five-membered-ring form of ribose at extreme conditions, which is consistent with the exclusive incorporation of $\beta$-D-ribofuranose in RNA. We have uncovered a previously unexplored pathway through which the crucial biomolecules could be abiotically synthesized from geofluids in the deep interior of Earth and other planets and these formed biomolecules could potentially contribute to the early stage of the emergency of life.