Aerosols are colloidal suspensions of solid or liquid particles in air or other gases, formed and emitted into the atmosphere by both natural and anthropogenic processes. Sea spray aerosol is…

This is a $242,742.04 grant awarded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Shared Services Center to Portland State University, a U.S. state government and public educational institution, for research related to the potential role of atmospheric aerosols in the origin of life. The grant does not have a set-aside designation. The award builds on the work of Carl Woese, who in 1979 proposed a greater role for atmospheric aerosols in the transition from prebiotic to biological systems, highlighting the unique properties of organic films at the air-water interface. The research aims to empirically couple this idea with the RNA world concept of the origins of life. Portland State University, as part of the Oregon University System, has a history of providing research, assessments, and other services to federal agencies such as the Departments of Defense, Interior, and Energy on topics like renewable energy, computational modeling, and STEM education.

Aerosols are colloidal suspensions of solid or liquid particles in air or other gases, formed and emitted into the atmosphere by both natural and anthropogenic processes. Sea spray aerosol is generated at the air-water interface of the oceans, while other natural aerosols such as smoke particles are released into the atmosphere via volcanic eruptions and forest fires. Early life may have evolved in the upper atmosphere because of interactions with the ocean. In 1979 carl woese (j MOL evol 13, 95􀁃101) submitted a critique of the commonly accepted oparin-haldane primordial soup model of the origin of life. This critique proposed a greater role than previously imagined for atmospheric aerosols in the transition from prebiotic to biological systems. Woese pointed out that many essential biological reactions are dehydrations, unlikely to occur without catalysis in a bulk aqueous environment, and thus requiring a phase separation. He suggested that the atmospheric droplet phase would have been a potential medium to constrain and promote biochemical evolution. These droplets possess characteristics of􀁃membrane􀁃 chemistry, where a relatively hydrophobic phase develops as macromolecules partition at the surface, thus increasing reactivity that would lead to more efficient chemical development. The unique properties of organic films at the air-water interface of an early ocean would have provided a milieu for biochemical reactions to occur. IT is known that organic molecules partition at air-water interfaces, generating a sea surface microlayer film with a relatively hydrophobic phase. Organics generated and/or retained by the system of ocean-atmosphere interaction tend to stay within this cycle once they enter, and would be exposed to widely fluctuating conditions of solar irradiation, temperature, pressure, and humidity, far from equilibrium. Transport of these materials within an aerosol phase would have been potentially significant to prebiotic evolution, and might have been rapid some 4 GYA on the early earth given its faster rotational speed. Although aerosol formation at the air-water interface of earth􀁃s emerging oceans would likely have provided an avenue for the partition and concentration of organic material and relevant prebiotic reactions within an essentially closed phase, this idea has never been empirically coupled with the RNA world concept of the origins of life.