Iron played a critical catalytic role in the origin of early life on Earth.
the verdict
SUPPORTED
the evidence backs this
confidence 79/100
Multiple origin-of-life models and geochemical studies indicate that iron and iron-sulfur minerals played a critical catalytic role in facilitating early prebiotic chemical reactions, carbon fixation, and metabolic network formation.
Evidence for · 6
Iron‐Sulfur World
2008 · cited by 4
Discusses iron, nickel, and transition metal centers as catalysts for reductive carbon fixation and organic compound formation in origin-of-life theories.
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More for · 5
Lightning, Minerals, and the Iron Bottleneck: A Probabilistic Geochemical Framework for Early Abiogenesis Environments V8
2026 · cited by 0
Notes that iron-sulfur mineral surfaces enhance molecular stability and reactivity in prebiotic surface environments.
(Photoredox) Organocatalysis in the Emergence of Life: Discovery, Applications, and Molecular Evolution.
2023 · cited by 0
Highlights how prebiotically plausible iron-particle catalysis aids in forming key organic building blocks.
RNA Oligomerization in Laboratory Analogues of Alkaline Hydrothermal Vent Systems.
2015 · cited by 0
Demonstrates that iron- and sulfur-rich chimney structures successfully support RNA oligomerization reactions.
On the origins of cells: a hypothesis for the evolutionary transitions from abiotic geochemistry to chemoautotrophic prokaryotes, and from prokaryotes to nucleated cells.
2003 · cited by 0
Proposes that iron monosulphide precipitates and FeS centers played a central catalytic role in early abiogenesis and chemoautotrophic prokaryote emergence.
Cysteine and iron accelerate the formation of ribose-5-phosphate, providing insights into the evolutionary origins of the metabolic network structure.
2021 · cited by 0
Shows that iron-driven reaction networks, augmented by amino acids, accelerate key prebiotic metabolic precursors such as ribose-5-phosphate.