Articles | Volume 12, issue 16
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-12-4913-2015
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-12-4913-2015
Research article
 | 
19 Aug 2015
Research article |  | 19 Aug 2015

Fundamental molecules of life are pigments which arose and co-evolved as a response to the thermodynamic imperative of dissipating the prevailing solar spectrum

K. Michaelian and A. Simeonov

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ED: Publish subject to minor revisions (Editor review) (17 Jul 2015) by Katja Fennel
AR by Karo Michaelian on behalf of the Authors (28 Jul 2015)  Author's response    Manuscript
ED: Publish subject to technical corrections (28 Jul 2015) by Katja Fennel
Short summary
We show that the fundamental molecules of life (those common to all three domains of life: Archaea, Bacteria, Eukaryota), including nucleotides, amino acids, enzyme cofactors, and porphyrin agglomerates, absorb light strongly from 230 to 280nm (in the UV-C) and have chemical affinity to RNA and DNA. This supports the "thermodynamic dissipation theory for the origin of life", which suggests that life arose and evolved as a response to dissipating the prevailing Archaean UV-C sunlight into heat.
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