There is a newer version of the record available.

Published November 10, 2025 | Version Version 1.0
Preprint Open

Clay-Catalyzed Wet–Dry Cycling as a Systems-Chemistry Route to Proto-Life

Authors/Creators

  • 1. Profssor of Physical chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry and Petroleum, Bu-Ali Sina University, Hamadan, Iran

Description

We propose a unified model in which fluctuating in which fluctuating wet-dry cycles on clay-rich mineral surfaces concentrate monomers, catalyse condensation into peptides and nucleic acids, and package reaction products into lipid-vesicle systems, thus generating protocells subject to primitive selection. Specifically, clay minerals act as adsorbers, concentrators and catalysts of polymerization, while recurrent dehydration/hydration cycles supply far-from-equilibrium driving force and reduce water-activity to favour condensation over hydrolysis. The scenario integrates elements of the “RNA world”, “lipid world” and “metabolism-first” models within a systems-chemistry framework, and leads to five experimentally accessible predictions: (1) polymer length and yield enhancements in clay + wet-dry systems, (2) autocatalytic cycles emerging from enriched oligomer populations, (3) amplification of enantiomeric excess (homochirality) with clay surfaces, (4) mineralogical/geochemical signatures in ancient sediments consistent with cycling, and (5) astrobiological implications for Mars and icy moons. We outline how this model can be quantitatively tested using montmorillonite (or smectite) clays, amino-/hydroxy-acids, nucleotides, and fatty-acid vesicles under defined cycling protocols.

Files

Clay-Catalyzed Wet–Dry Cycling as a Systems-Chemistry Route to Proto-Life.pdf

Files (1.6 MB)

Additional details

Dates

Issued
2025-11-10

References

  • 1. Ross, D. S. & Deamer, D. (2016). Dry/Wet Cycling and the Thermodynamics and Kinetics of Prebiotic Polymer Synthesis. Life, 6(3), 28.
  • 2. Higgs, P. G. (2016). The Effect of Limited Diffusion and Wet–Dry Cycling on Reversible Polymerization Reactions: Implications for Prebiotic Synthesis of Nucleic Acids. Life, 6(2), 24.
  • 3. Negrón-Mendoza, A., Albarrán, G., & Ramos-Bernal, S. (2012). Clays as Natural Catalysts in Prebiotic Processes. In Chemical Evolution: Physics of the Origin and Evolution of Life (pp. 97–106). Springer.
  • 4. Campbell, Thomas D.; Febrian, Rio; McCarthy, Jack T.; Kleinschmidt, Holly E.; Forsythe, Jay G.; Bracher, Paul J. (2019) Prebiotic Condensation through Wet–Dry Cycling Regulated by Deliquescence. Nature Communications.
  • 5. Yang, Y., Wang, Z., Bai, J., & Qiao, H. (2025). Prebiotic Peptide Synthesis: How Did the Longest Peptide Appear? Journal of Molecular Evolution, 93, 193–211.
  • 6. Kitson, V., Sanders, Q., V. Dass. A., Higgs, P. G. (2023). Equilibrium and Non-equilibrium Reaction Schemes for Prebiotic Polymerization. Chemistry – A European Journal.
  • 7. Guo, X.; Fu, Y.; Ying, Y.; et al. (2023). Prebiotic Chemistry: A Review of Nucleoside Phosphorylation and Polymerization in Aqueous Environments. Open Biology
  • 8. Ferris, J. P. (1993). Montmorillonite Catalysis of RNA Oligomer Formation. Nature, 361, 170–172
  • 9. Ertem, G. & Ferris, J. P. (1996). Synthesis of RNA Oligomers on Montmorillonite: Ion Exchange and Catalysis. Origins of Life and Evolution of the Biosphere, 26, 7–25
  • 10. Cairns-Smith, A. G. (1982). Genetic Takeover and the Mineral Origins of Life. Cambridge University Press.
  • 11. Theng, B. K. G. (2012). Formation and Properties of Clay–Polymer Complexes. Elsevier.
  • 12. Paecht-Horowitz, M., Eirich, F. R., & Katchalsky, A. (1970). Prebiotic Synthesis of Polypeptides by Condensation of Amino Acids on Montmorillonite. Nature, 228, 636–639.