Abiotic origin of the citric acid cycle intermediates.

ABSTRACT: The molecular framework for protometabolism-chemical reactions in a prebiotic environment preceding modern metabolism-has remained unknown in evolutionary biology. Mono-, di-, and tricarboxylic acids that comprise contemporary metabolism, such as the Krebs cycle, are of particular prebiotic relevance and are theorized to predate life on Earth. Researchers have struggled to unravel the molecular origins of respiration, with theories pointing toward abiotic origins later co-opted by the earliest living organisms; however, the molecular network of these molecules has remained elusive. Recent detections of carboxylic acids linked to the Krebs cycle on the Ryugu asteroid and Murchison meteorite rekindled interest in their extraterrestrial origins. Replicating conditions analogous to the environ

SUBMITTER: McAnally M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12054844 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature