Navaniswaran Tharumen, Mahendran Sithamparam, Tony Z Jia, Kuhan Chandru
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引用次数: 0
Abstract
The sun generates light and heat for life on Earth to flourish. However, during the late Hadean-early Archean epoch on Earth, the "faint young sun" (FYS) was less luminous, influencing prebiotic chemistry and, by extension, the origins of life (OoL). However, higher levels of ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the FYS, especially UV-C, due to the lack of an ozone layer, would likely have impacted the assembly, stability, persistence, and functions of prebiotic cellular precursors, i.e., protocells. Consequently, it is essential to study how such UV-C radiation would have affected the synthesis and stability of prebiotically relevant molecules and protocells to better understand the plausibility of the OoL during the FYS period. In this letter, we introduce unanswered questions surrounding the structure and stability of protocells under UV-C radiation. Such a perspective may be vital to exoplanetary systems orbiting other stars, enhancing our understanding of life's potential beyond our solar system.
期刊介绍:
Biophysical Reviews aims to publish critical and timely reviews from key figures in the field of biophysics. The bulk of the reviews that are currently published are from invited authors, but the journal is also open for non-solicited reviews. Interested authors are encouraged to discuss the possibility of contributing a review with the Editor-in-Chief prior to submission. Through publishing reviews on biophysics, the editors of the journal hope to illustrate the great power and potential of physical techniques in the biological sciences, they aim to stimulate the discussion and promote further research and would like to educate and enthuse basic researcher scientists and students of biophysics. Biophysical Reviews covers the entire field of biophysics, generally defined as the science of describing and defining biological phenomenon using the concepts and the techniques of physics. This includes but is not limited by such areas as: - Bioinformatics - Biophysical methods and instrumentation - Medical biophysics - Biosystems - Cell biophysics and organization - Macromolecules: dynamics, structures and interactions - Single molecule biophysics - Membrane biophysics, channels and transportation