2020 Fiscal Year Final Research Report
Synthesis of biological components using CO2 fluid in simulated hadean hydrothermal system
| Project/Area Number |
18K18783
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Research (Exploratory)
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| Allocation Type | Multi-year Fund |
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| Review Section |
Medium-sized Section 17:Earth and planetary science and related fields
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| Research Institution | Tokyo Institute of Technology |
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Principal Investigator |
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| Project Period (FY) |
2018-06-29 – 2021-03-31
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| Keywords | 化学進化 / アミノ酸 / 核酸 / 二酸化炭素流体 / 初期地球 / 高分子 |
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| Outline of Final Research Achievements |
It has been a key issue in the research on the "origin of life" to consider which environments on the primitive earth are suitable for synthesizing organic molecules related to life. In this study, we focused on the hydrophobic and hydrophilic two-layer environment of CO2 fluid (liquid/supercritical) located near the deep-sea hydrothermal system, and reproduced the same environment using a small high-pressure reactor. As a result of observing chemical changes inside the reactor with respect to combinations of amino acid and nucleic acid constituents, it was found that molecules (unknown, most likely not a dipeptide) was synthesized in the reaction solution containing amino acids at high temperature and high pressure. In the mid temperature range, a combination of nucleotide precursors and phosphate yielded very small amounts of nucleotide monophosphate.
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| Free Research Field |
宇宙生物学
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| Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements |
生命の起源の問題を考えることは、すなわち我々のルーツを探るという試みであり、その学術的意義は生命科学のみならず、人文科学や哲学といった分野にまで波及効果がある。本研究では、これまであまり注目されてこなかった初期地球環境に存在していたであろう深海の化学反応場を実験室内で再現し、これまで有機物の高分子化に重要な脱水反応が進む陸地を想定した環境とは異なる条件で初めて化学進化実験を行うことができた。同時に地球科学、有機化学、分析化学をまたがるような学際的研究を展開したことにより学術分野の発展に少なからず寄与することができたと考える
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