Minimal Conditions for Life

Valeska Molina
December 18th 2019

Profesores: Dr. Pedro Zamorano y Dra. Bernardita Valenzuela

Introduction

Life

“organisms that have the capacities of

organization, growth, metabolize, respond to
external stimuli, reproduce and die”

Keymer J, PUC BIO110C

 Origin of life

little or no oxygen
Source energy
Chemical compounds -building blocks-
time

Nakashima S. et al., 2018

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So what do they all share?

1. Organisms are formed of cells 3. Organisms respond to stimulus

2. Organisms regulated metabolic pathways 4. Organisms grow and develop

Keymer J, PUC BIO110C

5. Organisms are reproduced 7. Evolutions and adaptations

6. Homoestasis

Keymer J, PUC BIO110C

So… Which are minimal life
conditions??
 Methodology
Search in Google Scholar -life conditions- minimal conditions of life-origin of life
Was selected 12 papers that describe life on Earth
Results and discussions
Chemicals compounds
Water

Universal compound, versatile, medium for complex reactions, constitutes 70%

of cell volume

Lehninger 4 editions, 2006

 Carbon Sixth most abundant element and
its properties allow it to bind with
other elements such as oxygen
and hydrogen, forming molecular
compounds of great importance.

oxidative
Composition phosphorylation

Ocean
photosynthesis Regulator
-NaCO3-

http://estructuradeloshidrocarburos.blogspot.com/
 Organics Molecules

Nakashima S. et al., 2018 http://www.geocities.ws/batxillerat_biologia/metabolcatabol.htm

 Organics Molecules

Nakashima S. et al., 2018 http://www.geocities.ws/batxillerat_biologia/metabolcatabol.htm

 Abiotic components
Thermodynamics

Nakashima S. et al., 2018

Abiotic components
Temperature

Also, the temperature allows the water to be in liquid form, in addition to contributing to
the kinetics of the reaction
https://es.khanacademy.org/science/biology/principles-of-physiology/metabolism-and-thermoregulation/a/endotherms-ectotherms
 The temperature on Earth’s surface ranges from -98.6 to 495ºC [ultra-cold locations in
East Antarctica (Scambos et al., 2018) and extremely hot deep-sea hydrothermal vents
(McDermott et al., 2018)]

microbial life can survive

The current temperature extreme

that microbial life can survive extends
from -25ºC
Zongtao Sun,2009

130ºC Tmax, “Geogemma barossii” 121) (Kashefi and Lovley, 2003)

The temperature range in which microorganisms are

reported to be metabolically active is currently between
-20ºC and 122ºC (Rivkina et al., 2000; Takai et al.,
https://microbewiki.kenyon.edu/index.php/Geogemma_barossii
 Acidity and alkalinity

The highest pHmax of 12.5 was observed for

The lowest pHmin -0.06 was observed for two
hyperacidophilic Archaea known as Picrophilus
oshimae and P. torridus (pHopt 0.7), isolated
from asolfataric hot spring in Noboribetsu
(Hokkaido, Japan) (Schleperet al., 1996).
an alkaliphilic bacterium known as
Serpentinomonas sp. B1 (pHopt 11), isolated
from a terrestrial serpentinizing system, The
Cedars (CA, United States) (Suzukiet al.,
2014)

All microorganisms must maintain a near neutral cytoplasmic pH to enable cellular functions
for survival and metabolism (Krulwich et al., 2011; Jin and Kirk, 2018).
Salinity Earth and range from the marine
environment (3–4% salinity), hot springs
(up to 10.5% salinity), and to soda lakes
(up to 37.1% salinity), and even salt
inclusions [up to 49.7% salinity
(Scambelluri et al., 1997)]

Halophiles achieve the necessary osmotic

balance by one of two strategies: (1)
accumulating K+ in the cytoplasm as a
‘saltin’ strategy or (2) excluding salts by
synthesizing compatible organic solutes,
such as polyols, amino acids, sugars, and
betaines.
The salinity range and optimum is between 0 and 35%.
 Pressure
On Earth’s surface, pressure ranges from 0.1 to 112 MPa

Thermococcus piezophilus, a thermophilic

Archaeon able to survive up to 125 MPa (Popt = 50
MPa, Pgrowth range = 0.1–125 MPa) (Dalmasso et al.,
2016).

Radiation
Radiation sources include UV radiation, X-rays, gamma rays and more generally, cosmic
rays
The reactive oxygen species can then
damage DNA, proteins, lipids, and RNA, in
addition to initiating Fenton-type reactions
within the cell due to the release of Fe 2C
from Fe-S clusters (Webb and DiRuggiero,
2013).
 Examples of extreme life…

Merino N. et al., 2019

 According to the review carried out in this
Conclusion report, we can conclude that the components
and minimum living conditions must respond to
the metabolism, growth, reproduction and
adaptation to the environment of a cell,
highlighting among them minimum conditions
temperature, pressure, pH, salinity, molecules
organic, water… All contributing together…

Merino N. et al., 2019

 Bibliography
Popovic Marko (2018). “Wanted dead or alive extraterrestrial life forms”. arXiv:1810.10389[q-bio.OT]

Cavicchioli Ricardo (2002). “Extremophiles and the search for extraterrestial life”. Astrobiology 2:3

Chyba Christopher, Hand Kevin (2005). “Astrobiology: The study of the living Universe”. Annu. Rev. Astron. Astrophys. 43:31-74.

Cleland Carol (2019). “Moving beyond definitions in the search for extraterrestial life” Astrobiology 19:6

Lehto Kirsi, Lehto Harry, Kanervo Eira (2006). “Suitability of different photosynthetic organisms for an extraterrestial biological life support system”.
Research Micro 157: 69-76.

Angelis A, Pimenta M (2018). “Astrobiology and the relation of fundamental physics to life”. Chapter 11.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-78181-5_11.

Schwieterman Edward, Reinhard Christopher, Olson Stephanie, Harman Chester, Lyons Timothy (2019). “A limited habitable zone for complex life”.
The Astroph journal 878:19.

Nakashima Satoru, Kebukawa Yoko, Kitadai Norio, Igisu Motoko, Matsuoka Natsuki (2018). “Geochemistry and the origen of life: From
Extraterrestrial processes, chemical evolution on Earth, fossilized life’s records, to natures of extant life”.Life 8, 39; doi:10.3390/life8040039.

Schulza-Makuch Dirk, Irwin Louis, Guan Huade(2002). “Search parameters for the remote detection of extraterrestrial life”. Plan and spac Sci 50:
675-683.

Jacob Heinz, Annemiek C. Waajen, Alessandro Airo, Armando Alibrandi, Janosch Schirmack, and Dirk Schulze-Makuch (2020). “Bacterial Growth in
Chloride and Perchlorate Brines: Halotolerances and Salt Stress Responses of Planococcus halocryophilus”. ASTROBIOLOGY Volume 20, Number
2.

Merino N, Aronson HS, Bojanova DP, Feyhl-Buska J, Wong ML, Zhang S and Giovannelli D (2019). “Living at the Extremes: Extremophiles and the
Limits of Life in a Planetary Context”. Front. Microbiol. 10:780. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2019.00780
The ‘salt-in’ strategy has been identified only in
a few halophiles (e.g., Salinibacter and
Halanaerobiales) which require KCl to have
functional proteins.