Prebiotic Vitamin B Synthesis in Carbonaceous Planetesimals.

Aqueous chemistry within carbonaceous planetesimals is promising for synthesizing prebiotic organic matter essential to all life. Meteorites derived from these planetesimals delivered these life building blocks to the early Earth, potentially facilitating the origins of life. Here, we studied the formation of vitamin B as it is an important precursor of the coenzyme NAD(P)(H), which is essential for the metabolism of all life as we know it.

What Wilhelm Ostwald meant by "Autokatalyse" and its significance to origins-of-life research: Facilitating the search for chemical pathways underlying abiogenesis by reviving Ostwald's thought that reactants may also be autocatalysts: Facilitating the search for chemical pathways underlying abiogenesis by reviving Ostwald's thought that reactants may also be autocatalysts.

A closer look at Wilhelm Ostwald's articles that originally proposed the concept of autocatalysis reveals that he accepted reactants, not just products, as potential autocatalysts. Therefore, that a process is catalyzed by some of its products, which is the common definition of autocatalysis, is only a proper subset of what Ostwald meant by "Autokatalyse." As a result, it is necessary to reconsider the definition of autocatalysis, which is especially important for origins-of-life research because autocatalysis provides an abiotic mechanism that yields reproduction-like dynamics.

Possible Ribose Synthesis in Carbonaceous Planetesimals.

The origin of life might be sparked by the polymerization of the first RNA molecules in Darwinian ponds during wet-dry cycles. The key life-building block ribose was found in carbonaceous chondrites. Its exogenous delivery onto the Hadean Earth could be a crucial step toward the emergence of the RNA world.