Researchers report that carbonate-rich lakes are plausible sites for the origin of life because phosphate, an essential component of key biomolecules such as RNA and DNA, can be concentrated in such lakes to the high levels needed to form such biomolecules, thereby overcoming a major obstacle to developing plausible origin-of-life scenarios, according to the authors.
Article #19-16109: "A carbonate-rich lake solution to the phosphate problem of the origin of life," by Jonathan D. Toner and David C. Catling.
MEDIA CONTACT: Jonathan D. Toner, University of Washington, Seattle, WA; tel: 267-304-3488; e-mail: toner2@uw.edu
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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences