Helmbrecht, Vanessa and Reichelt, Robert and Grohmann, Dina and Orsi, William D. (2025) Simulated early Earth geochemistry fuels a hydrogen-dependent primordial metabolism. NATURE ECOLOGY & EVOLUTION, 9 (5). pp. 769-778. ISSN 2397-334X
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Molecular hydrogen is the electron donor for the ancient exergonic reductive acetyl-coenzyme A pathway (acetyl-CoA pathway), which is used by hydrogenotrophic methanogenic archaea. How the presence of iron-sulfides influenced the acetyl-CoA pathway under primordial early Earth geochemistry is still poorly understood. Here we show that the iron-sulfides mackinawite (FeS) and greigite (Fe3S4), which formed in chemical garden experiments simulating geochemical conditions of the early Archaean eon (4.0-3.6 billion years ago), produce abiotic H2 in sufficient quantities to support hydrogenotrophic growth of the hyperthermophilic methanogen Methanocaldococcus jannaschii. Abiotic H2 from iron-sulfide formation promoted CO2 fixation and methanogenesis and induced overexpression of genes encoding the acetyl-CoA pathway. We demonstrate that H2 from iron-sulfide precipitation under simulated early Earth hydrothermal geochemistry fuels a H2-dependent primordial metabolism.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | WOOD-LJUNGDAHL PATHWAY; IRON SULFIDE; HETERODISULFIDE REDUCTASE; HYDROTHERMAL FLUIDS; CRYSTAL-STRUCTURE; CARBON-DIOXIDE; ORIGIN; EVOLUTION; MACKINAWITE; GREIGITE |
| Subjects: | 500 Science > 570 Life sciences |
| Divisions: | Biology, Preclinical Medicine > Institut für Biochemie, Genetik und Mikrobiologie > Lehrstuhl für Mikrobiologie (Archaeenzentrum) > Prof. Dr. Dina Grohmann |
| Depositing User: | Dr. Gernot Deinzer |
| Date Deposited: | 24 Jun 2026 06:18 |
| Last Modified: | 24 Jun 2026 06:18 |
| URI: | https://pred.uni-regensburg.de/id/eprint/66505 |
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