| Project/Area Number |
16K13906
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
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| Allocation Type | Multi-year Fund |
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| Research Field |
Petrology/Mineralogy/Economic geology
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| Research Institution | Tokyo Institute of Technology |
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Principal Investigator |
Norio Kitadai 東京工業大学, 地球生命研究所, 研究員 (80625723)
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| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
本郷 やよい 東京工業大学, 地球生命研究所, 研究員 (40435681)
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| Research Collaborator |
Imai Ei-ich
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| Project Period (FY) |
2016-04-01 – 2019-03-31
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| Project Status |
Completed (Fiscal Year 2018)
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| Budget Amount *help |
¥3,380,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,600,000、Indirect Cost: ¥780,000)
Fiscal Year 2018: ¥650,000 (Direct Cost: ¥500,000、Indirect Cost: ¥150,000)
Fiscal Year 2017: ¥650,000 (Direct Cost: ¥500,000、Indirect Cost: ¥150,000)
Fiscal Year 2016: ¥2,080,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,600,000、Indirect Cost: ¥480,000)
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| Keywords | 生命の起源 / アストロバイオロジー / 生命の化学進化 / 電気化学 / 初期地球 / 化学進化 / ペプチド |
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| Outline of Final Research Achievements |
Deep sea alkaline hydrothermal systems are among the most plausible environments for the origin of life on Earth, and probably so in Universe. Steep pH, temperature, and redox gaps between hydrothermal fluids and seawater generate huge and sustainable thermodynamic disequilibrium at the vent-seawater interface, where CO2 fixation into organic molecules including building blocks of life, and subsequent condensation/polymerization of monomers into functional polymers may have occurred in the aid of catalytic and reductive minerals. Here, we examined this possibility by thermodynamic calculation and laboratory simulations particularly focusing on the amino acid synthesis and polymerization processes. Favorable environmental conditions for the chemical evolution of life in hydrothermal systems were discussed based on the obtained experimental and theoretical results.
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| Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements |
生命起源を巡る議論は大変歴史が深く，古くは紀元前4世紀のアリストテレスによる「自然発生説」を一例として様々なアイデアが提唱されてきた．本研究では深海熱水噴出孔環境が生命誕生に果たした役割を室内実験・理論計算の両面から検証し，本環境が生命の構成分子（アミノ酸など）の生成や重合を促進するメカニズムや条件を評価した．得られた成果は，地球生命がどこでどのように生まれたのか，という根源的謎を解き明かす上で，大きな進展をもたらしたと考えられる．
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