Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Molecular hydrogen is the electron donor for the ancient exergonic reductive acetyl-coenzyme A pathway (acetyl-CoA pathway), which is used by hydrogenotrophic methanogenic archaea. How the presence of iron-sulfides influenced the acetyl-CoA pathway under primordial early Earth geochemistry is still poorly understood. Here we show that the iron-sulfides mackinawite (FeS) and greigite (Fe 3 S 4 ), which formed in chemical garden experiments simulating geochemical conditions of the early Archaean eon (4.0–3.6 billion years ago), produce abiotic H 2 in sufficient quantities to support hydrogenotrophic growth of the hyperthermophilic methanogen Methanocaldococcus jannaschii . Abiotic H 2 from iron-sulfide formation promoted CO 2 fixation and methanogenesis and induced overexpression of genes encoding the acetyl-CoA pathway. We demonstrate that H 2 from iron-sulfide precipitation under simulated early Earth hydrothermal geochemistry fuels a H 2 -dependent primordial metabolism.
Source: Nature Ecology & Evolution
Language: English
Subfield: Astronomy and Astrophysics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $12,690
OpenAlex ID: W4409968476