An Archean atmosphere rich in sulfur biomolecules

The abiotic production of sulfur-containing biomolecules under mild and globally relevant conditions has been an elusive endeavor in prebiotic chemistry experiments. As a result, a disconnect has emerged between understanding the origins of life and the later stages of biological evolution; the former potentially occurred independent of sulfur while the latter is universally dependent on it. Here, we demonstrate that planetary organic haze chemistry produces a suite of sulfur biomolecules including cysteine, coenzyme M, taurine, and potentially methionine and homocysteine. These compounds may form high in the atmosphere and subsequently deposit to early surface environments in sufficient amounts to support a budding global biosphere. Our findings thus challenge long-standing assumptions that sulfur biomolecules such as cysteine must have been biological "inventions."

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Publication Details

Journal
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Published
2025-12-01
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2516779122
Citations
1
Primary Topic
Origins and Evolution of Life
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
1.15
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article

An Archean atmosphere rich in sulfur biomolecules

E. C. Browne, Jason D. Surratt, Boswell A. Wing, Margaret A. Tolbert et al.
1 citations
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Origins and Evolution of Life
1.15
article

An Archean atmosphere rich in sulfur biomolecules

E. C. Browne, Jason D. Surratt, Boswell A. Wing, Margaret A. Tolbert, Cade M. Christensen, Nathan W. Reed, Shawn E. McGlynn, Cajetan Neubauer
article en
1 citations

Abstract

The abiotic production of sulfur-containing biomolecules under mild and globally relevant conditions has been an elusive endeavor in prebiotic chemistry experiments. As a result, a disconnect has emerged between understanding the origins of life and the later stages of biological evolution; the former potentially occurred independent of sulfur while the latter is universally dependent on it. Here, we demonstrate that planetary organic haze chemistry produces a suite of sulfur biomolecules including cysteine, coenzyme M, taurine, and potentially methionine and homocysteine. These compounds may form high in the atmosphere and subsequently deposit to early surface environments in sufficient amounts to support a budding global biosphere. Our findings thus challenge long-standing assumptions that sulfur biomolecules such as cysteine must have been biological "inventions."

Proceedings of the National Academy of SciencesVol. 122(49)
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (US), Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (US), University of Colorado Boulder (US), Shanghai Institute for Science of Science (CN), RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science (JP), Life Science Institute (JP), University of Arts (AL), Blue Marble Space (US), Blue Marble Space Institute of Science (US), Institute of Science Tokyo (JP)
Openalex Percentile: Top 15%
Origins and Evolution of Life
1.15
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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