Cryosphere and Psychrophiles: Insights into a Cold Origin of Life?

• Published in: Life
• Main Author: Georges Feller
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2017
• Subjects: cryosphere; psychrophiles; ice; eutectic phase; RNA world; ribozyme; Science; Q; Sea ice
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.3390/life7020025; https://doaj.org/article/d56f6af12b474683bad5e47c94802964

Psychrophiles thrive permanently in the various cold environments on Earth. Their unsuspected ability to remain metabolically active in the most extreme low temperature conditions provides insights into a possible cold step in the origin of life. More specifically, metabolically active psychrophilic bacteria have been observed at −20 °C in the ice eutectic phase (i.e., the liquid veins between sea ice crystals). In the context of the RNA world hypothesis, this ice eutectic phase would have provided stability to the RNA molecules and confinement of the molecules in order to react and replicate. This aspect has been convincingly tested by laboratory experiments.