The future of origin of life research: Bridging decades-old divisions

Martina Preiner; Silke Asche; Sidney Becker; Holly C. Betts; Adrien Boniface; Eloi Camprubi; Kuhan Chandru; Valentina Erastova; Sriram G. Garg; Nozair Khawaja; Gladys Kostyrka; Rainer Machné; Giacomo Moggioli; Kamila B. Muchowska; Sinje Neukirchen; Benedikt Peter; Edith Pichlhöfer; Ádám Radványi; Daniele Rossetto; Annalena Salditt; Nicolas M. Schmelling; Filipa L. Sousa; Fernando D.K. Tria; Dániel Vörös; Joana C. Xavier

doi:10.3390/life10030020

The future of origin of life research: Bridging decades-old divisions

Martina Preiner, Silke Asche, Sidney Becker, Holly C. Betts, Adrien Boniface, Eloi Camprubi, Kuhan Chandru, Valentina Erastova, Sriram G. Garg, Nozair Khawaja, Gladys Kostyrka, Rainer Machné, Giacomo Moggioli, Kamila B. Muchowska, Sinje Neukirchen, Benedikt Peter, Edith Pichlhöfer, Ádám Radványi, Daniele Rossetto, Annalena SaldittNicolas M. Schmelling, Filipa L. Sousa, Fernando D.K. Tria, Dániel Vörös, Joana C. Xavier^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Petrology

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

Research on the origin of life is highly heterogeneous. After a peculiar historical development, it still includes strongly opposed views which potentially hinder progress. In the 1st Interdisciplinary Origin of Life Meeting, early-career researchers gathered to explore the commonalities between theories and approaches, critical divergence points, and expectations for the future. We find that even though classical approaches and theories—e.g. bottom-up and top-down, RNA world vs. metabolism-first—have been prevalent in origin of life research, they are ceasing to be mutually exclusive and they can and should feed integrating approaches. Here we focus on pressing questions and recent developments that bridge the classical disciplines and approaches, and highlight expectations for future endeavours in origin of life research.

Original language	English
Article number	20
Number of pages	23
Journal	Life
Volume	10
Issue number	3
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.3390/life10030020
Publication status	Published - Mar 2020

Funding

Funding:M.P.andJ.C.X.arefundedbygrantsfromtheDeutscheForschungsgemeinschaft(MA-1426/21-1),the European Research Council (666053) and the Volkswagen Foundation (93046) to William F. Martin. E.C. is thankfultothesupportfromtheOriginsCenterthroughNWAStartImpuls.K.C.issupportedbytheEuropean Structural and Investment Funds Operational Programme “Research, Development and Education”-funded project“ChemJets”(C.Z.02.2.69/0.0/0.0/16_027/0008351)andResearchEncouragementFund UKM (GGP-2019-029). F.L.S. gratefully acknowledges funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement 803768). F.L.S., S.N. and E.P. acknowledge the Wiener Wissenschafts-, Forschungs-und Technologiefonds (grant agreement VRG15-007, awardedtoF.L.S.).D.V.andÁ.R.weresupportedbytheNationalResearch,DevelopmentandInnovationOffice (NKFIH) under the grant number GINOP 2.3.2-15-2016-00057. A.S. and B.P. were supported by the CRC 235 EmergenceofLifegrantedtoDieterBraunandPetraSchwille,respectively.H.C.B.wassupportedbytheNERC GW4 PhDstudentship. N.K. was supportedby European Research Council (ERC) Consolidator Grant 724908-Habitat OASIS. Acknowledgements:Allauthorswish to thank WilliamF.Martin(Heinrich HeineUniversity, Düsseldorf) for generouslysponsoringtheentiretyofthe1stInterdisciplinaryOriginofLifeMeetingforearlycareerresearchers in Düsseldorf, where many insightful discussions motivated this paper. The authors are thankful to Caroline Ring for the graphic recording of the entire meeting, available in https://www.molevol.hhu.de/iool-meeting-bilder.html.M.P.andJ.C.X.thankWilliamF.Martinfor mentoringandsupport.S.B.thanksThomasCarellfor mentoringandsupport.K.B.M.gratefullyacknowledgesmentoringandsupportfromJosephMoran(Institutde Science et d’Ingénierie Supramoléculaires, Strasbourg). S.A. acknowledges mentoring and support by Leroy Cronin (School of Chemistry, University of Glasgow). S.N. and E.P. thank Filipa L. Sousa for mentoring and support. D.R. acknowledges Sheref S. Mansy for mentoring and support. E.C. acknowledges mentoring and supportbyIngeLoestenKate(OriginsCenter,DepartmentofEarthSciences,UtrechtUniversity).

Keywords

Abiogenesis
Bottom-up
Early life
Emergence
LUCA
Origins of life
Prebiotic chemistry
Top-down

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Preiner, M., Asche, S., Becker, S., Betts, H. C., Boniface, A., Camprubi, E., Chandru, K., Erastova, V., Garg, S. G., Khawaja, N., Kostyrka, G., Machné, R., Moggioli, G., Muchowska, K. B., Neukirchen, S., Peter, B., Pichlhöfer, E., Radványi, Á., Rossetto, D., ... Xavier, J. C. (2020). The future of origin of life research: Bridging decades-old divisions. Life, 10(3), Article 20. https://doi.org/10.3390/life10030020

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Preiner, M, Asche, S, Becker, S, Betts, HC, Boniface, A, Camprubi, E, Chandru, K, Erastova, V, Garg, SG, Khawaja, N, Kostyrka, G, Machné, R, Moggioli, G, Muchowska, KB, Neukirchen, S, Peter, B, Pichlhöfer, E, Radványi, Á, Rossetto, D, Salditt, A, Schmelling, NM, Sousa, FL, Tria, FDK, Vörös, D & Xavier, JC 2020, 'The future of origin of life research: Bridging decades-old divisions', Life, vol. 10, no. 3, 20. https://doi.org/10.3390/life10030020

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AU - Peter, Benedikt

AU - Pichlhöfer, Edith

AU - Radványi, Ádám

AU - Rossetto, Daniele

AU - Salditt, Annalena

AU - Schmelling, Nicolas M.

AU - Sousa, Filipa L.

AU - Tria, Fernando D.K.

AU - Vörös, Dániel

AU - Xavier, Joana C.

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ER -

The future of origin of life research: Bridging decades-old divisions

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Keywords

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