We present a testable hypothesis related to an origin of life on land in which fluctuating volcanic hot spring pools play a central role. The hypothesis is based on experimental evidence that lipid-encapsulated polymers can be synthesized by cycles of hydration and dehydration to form protocells. Drawing on metaphors from the bootstrapping of a simple computer operating system, we show how protocells cycling through wet, dry, and moist phases will subject polymers to combinatorial selection and draw structural and catalytic functions out of initially random sequences, including structural stabilization, pore formation, and primitive metabolic activity. We propose that protocells aggregating into a hydrogel in the intermediate moist phase of wet-dry cycles represent a primitive progenote system. Progenote populations can undergo selection and distribution, construct niches in new environments, and enable a sharing network effect that can collectively evolve them into the first microbial communities. Laboratory and field experiments testing the first steps of the scenario are summarized. The scenario is then placed in a geological setting on the early Earth to suggest a plausible pathway from life's origin in chemically optimal freshwater hot spring pools to the emergence of microbial communities tolerant to more extreme conditions in dilute lakes and salty conditions in marine environments. A continuity is observed for biogenesis beginning with simple protocell aggregates, through the transitional form of the progenote, to robust microbial mats that leave the fossil imprints of stromatolites so representative in the rock record. A roadmap to future testing of the hypothesis is presented. We compare the oceanic vent with land-based pool scenarios for an origin of life and explore their implications for subsequent evolution to multicellular life such as plants. We conclude by utilizing the hypothesis to posit where life might also have emerged in habitats such as Mars or Saturn's icy moon Enceladus. "To postulate one fortuitously catalyzed reaction, perhaps catalyzed by a metal ion, might be reasonable, but to postulate a suite of them is to appeal to magic." -Leslie Orgel.

Bruce Damer

David Deamer

Astrobiology

ASTROBIOLOGY 是被引用次数最多的同行评审期刊，致力于了解生命的起源、进化和宇宙中的分布，重点关注行星际探索和实验室研究的新发现和发现。ASTROBIOLOGY 覆盖范围包括：天体物理学；天体古生物学; 行星; 生物天文学; 宇宙化学; 生态基因组学; 外星生物学; 极端微生物; 地球微生物学; 引力生物学; 生命探测技术; 陨石学; 行星地球科学; 行星保护; 益生元化学; 空间探索技术; 地球化

Astrobiology is the most cited peer-reviewed journal dedicated to understanding the origin, evolution, and distribution of life in the universe. It focuses on new discoveries in planetary exploration and laboratory research. The scope of Astrobiology includes: astrophysics, astrobiology, planets, bioastronomy, astrochemistry, ecological genomics, exobiology, extremophiles, earth microbiology, gravitational biology, life detection technologies, meteoritics, planetary earth sciences, planetary protection, prebiotic chemistry, space exploration technologies, and geochemistry.

《Astrobiology》是引用次数最多的同行评审期刊，专注于生命的起源、进化及其在宇宙中的分布。期刊特别关注行星际探索和实验室研究中的新发现。其覆盖范围包括：天体物理学、天体古生物学、行星、生物天文学、宇宙化学、生态基因组学、外星生物学、极端微生物、地球微生物学、引力生物学、生命探测技术、陨石学、行星地球科学、行星保护、益生元化学、空间探索技术及地球化学。

The Hot Spring Hypothesis for an Origin of Life

The hypothesis that protocells aggregating into a hydrogel in the intermediate moist phase of wet-dry cycles represent a primitive progenote system is proposed and used to posit where life might also have emerged in habitats such as Mars or Saturn's icy moon Enceladus.

Category	Quartile
物理与天体物理	3
物理与天体物理, 天文与天体物理	2
物理与天体物理, 生物学	3
物理与天体物理, 地球科学综合	3

The Hot Spring Hypothesis for an Origin of Life

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Journal Info

Category	Quartile
GEOSCIENCES, MULTIDISCIPLINARY	1