The surface of Hadean Earth was mainly covered with three types of rocks-komatiite, KREEP basalt and anorthosite-which were remarkably different from those on the modern Earth. The water-rock interaction between these rocks and water provided a highly reducing environment and formed secondary minerals on the surface of the rocks that are important for producing metallo-enzymes for the emergence of primordial life. Previous studies suggested a correlation between the active site of metallo-enzymes and sulfide minerals based on the affinity of their structures, but they did not discuss the origin of metallic elements contained in these minerals which is critical to understanding where life began. We investigated secondary minerals formed through water-rock interactions of komatiite in a subaerial geyser system, then discussed the relationship between the active site of metallo-enzymes and secondary minerals. Instead of komatiite, we used serpentinite collected from the Hakuba Happo area, Nagano Prefecture in central-north Japan, which is thought to be a modern analog for the Hadean environment. We found several minor minerals, such as magnetite, chromite, pyrite and pentlandite in addition to serpentine minerals. Pentlandite has not been mentioned in previous studies as one of the candidates that could supply important metallic elements to build metallo-enzymes. It has been shown to be a catalyst for hydrogen generation possibly, because of structural similarity to the active site of hydrogenases. We consider the possibility that nickel-iron sulfide, pentlandite, could be important minerals for the origin of life. In addition, we estimated what kinds of minor minerals would be obtained from the water-rock interaction of these rocks using thermodynamic calculations. KREEP basalt contains a large amount of iron and it could be useful for producing metallo-enzymes, especially ferredoxins-electron transfer enzymes, which may have assisted in the emergence of life.

中文翻译：

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原始生命的诞生地：次生矿物在通过冥古宙岩石的水-岩相互作用形成金属蛋白质中的作用。


冥古宙地球表面主要覆盖着科马提岩、克里普玄武岩和斜长岩三种岩石，与现代地球上的岩石有很大不同。这些岩石和水之间的水-岩石相互作用提供了高度还原的环境，并在岩石表面形成了次生矿物，这些矿物对于产生原始生命出现的金属酶非常重要。先前的研究表明，基于金属酶和硫化物矿物结构的亲和力，它们的活性位点之间存在相关性，但他们没有讨论这些矿物中所含金属元素的起源，而这对于了解生命的起源至关重要。我们研究了陆上间歇泉系统中科马提岩水-岩相互作用形成的次生矿物，然后讨论了金属酶活性位点与次生矿物之间的关系。我们使用从日本中北部长野县白马八方地区收集的蛇纹石代替科马提岩，这被认为是现代冥古宙环境的模拟。除了蛇纹石矿物外，我们还发现了几种小矿物，如磁铁矿、铬铁矿、黄铁矿和镍黄铁矿。之前的研究中并未提到镍黄铁矿是可以提供重要金属元素来构建金属酶的候选者之一。由于与氢化酶活性位点的结构相似，它已被证明可能是氢气产生的催化剂。我们认为镍铁硫化物、镍黄铁矿可能是生命起源的重要矿物。此外，我们还利用热力学计算估计了这些岩石的水-岩相互作用中会获得哪些次要矿物。 克里普玄武岩含有大量铁，可用于生产金属酶，特别是铁氧还蛋白-电子转移酶，这可能有助于生命的出现。