UV-light-driven prebiotic synthesis of iron–sulfur clusters

Szostak, Jack W.; Sasselov, Dimitar D.; Sutherland, John D.; Mansy, Sheref S.; Bonfio, Claudia; Valer, Luca; Scintilla, Simone; Shah, Sachin; Evans, David J.; Jin, Lin; Szostak, Jack; Sasselov, Dimitar; Sutherland, John; Mansy, Sheref

Abstract

Iron–sulfur clusters are ancient cofactors that play a fundamental role in metabolism and may have impacted the prebiotic chemistry that led to life. However, it is unclear whether iron–sulfur clusters could have been synthesized on prebiotic Earth. Dissolved iron on early Earth was predominantly in the reduced ferrous state, but ferrous ions alone cannot form polynuclear iron–sulfur clusters. Similarly, free sulfide may not have been readily available. Here we show that UV light drives the synthesis of [2Fe–2S] and [4Fe–4S] clusters through the photooxidation of ferrous ions and the photolysis of organic thiols. Iron–sulfur clusters coordinate to and are stabilized by a wide range of cysteine-containing peptides and the assembly of iron–sulfur cluster-peptide complexes can take place within model protocells in a process that parallels extant pathways. Our experiments suggest that iron–sulfur clusters may have formed easily on early Earth, facilitating the emergence of an iron–sulfur-cluster-dependent metabolism.

Citation

Szostak, J. W., Sasselov, D. D., Sutherland, J. D., Mansy, S. S., Bonfio, C., Valer, L., …Mansy, S. (2017). UV-light-driven prebiotic synthesis of iron–sulfur clusters. Nature Chemistry, 9(12), 1229-1234. https://doi.org/10.1038/nchem.2817

• Acceptance Date: Jun 1, 2017
• Online Publication Date: Jul 10, 2017
• Publication Date: Dec 1, 2017
• Deposit Date: Jul 13, 2017
• Publicly Available Date: Oct 27, 2022
• Journal: Nature chemistry
• Print ISSN: 1755-4330
• Electronic ISSN: 1755-4349
• Publisher: Nature Publishing Group
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 9
• Issue: 12
• Pages: 1229-1234
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nchem.2817
• Keywords: Metalloproteins; Chemical origin of life
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/453570
• Publisher URL: http://www.nature.com/nchem/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nchem.2817.html#affil-auth
• Additional Information: Authors' accepted manuscript of article published in: Nature chemistry, 2017, v.9.