Japan Geoscience Union Meeting 2021

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[E] Oral

M (Multidisciplinary and Interdisciplinary) » M-IS Intersection

[M-IS02] Astrobiology

Thu. Jun 3, 2021 1:45 PM - 3:15 PM Ch.26 (Zoom Room 26)

convener:Hikaru Yabuta(Hiroshima University, Department of Earth and Planetary Systems Science), Seiji Sugita(Department of Earth and Planetary Science, Graduate School of Science Sciece, The University of Tokyo), Misato Fukagawa(National Astronomical Observatory of Japan), Fujishima Kosuke(Tokyo Institute of Technology, Earth-Life Science Institute), Chairperson:Fujishima Kosuke(Tokyo Institute of Technology, Earth-Life Science Institute), Misato Fukagawa(National Astronomical Observatory of Japan), Seiji Sugita(Department of Earth and Planetary Science, Graduate School of Science Sciece, The University of Tokyo), Hikaru Yabuta(Hiroshima University, Department of Earth and Planetary Systems Science)

2:35 PM - 3:00 PM

[MIS02-03] Linking geochemistry to biochemistry: enzyme-mimetic catalysis

★Invited Papers

*LI Yamei1 (1.Earth-Life science Institute, Tokyo Institute of Technology)

Keywords:Bio-mimetic catalysis, Prebiotic chemistry

A transition from geochemistry to biochemistry has been considered as a necessary step towards the emergence of primordial life. The chemistry underlying this transition involves many levels of creation and reconstruction, finally reaching the molecular, structural, and functional buildup of complexity. Among them, one apparent question is: how the biochemical catalytic system emerged from the mineral-based geochemical system? Michael Russell proposed that several transition metal sulfide minerals could have acted as structural analogs of metalloenzymes for catalyzing prebiotic redox conversions. This assumption has been tested and verified to some extent by several studies, which focused on using Earth-abundant transition metal sulfides as catalysts for catalyzing multi-electron C and N conversions. I will introduce the progress in this field and also the relevant study that I have been working on for the past four years.