From Non-Living to Living Matter on Early Earth: The Role of Magnetite and Meteorite Components as Prebiotic Catalysts in boosting Molecular Complexity toward the Origin of Life under the presence of Water and light sources.

The origin of life on Earth remains one of the most intriguing questions in science, as well as the definition of life itself, prompting extensive research into the transition from non-living to living matter. Central to this inquiry is understanding how simple inorganic molecules in the primeval soup evolved into complex organic compounds capable of triggering the emergence and sustaining early life. The early Earth's environment, rich in a variety of minerals, offered a vibrant, dynamic and active backdrop for prebiotic chemical processes. Among the various catalysts proposed to drive this molecular progression, magnetite (Fe₃O₄) and minerals originating from meteorites have attracted considerable interest due to their potential catalytic properties. Searching for the very first instants of life on Earth, with several hypotheses in play [1] the challenge has been to replicate the conditions that could have allowed the emergence of early life to emerge. I developed a new approach to stimulate physicochemical processes that may have led to the emergence of the first life forms from inanimate matter on Earth or Earth-like planets via photo-metabolic pathways. My studies does not starts from ground zero, but provide evidence of non-enzymatic catalysis that modifies sugars, aminoacids, urea and other molecules produced in the prebiotic environments on the planets or satellites of our solar system by investigating the effect of physico-chemical stress on the formation of insolubile Micro-Metallorganic-Magnetic-Materials (M4) able to perform non-enzymatic catalytic activities typical of modern life [2]. Their structural complexity, , chemical composition, interactions with some mineral and/or rocks leave open the possibility that these materials might represent a kind of non-conventional form of protometabolic complex chemical system from which the ancestors of the first living cells could have evolved on Earth. Here, I propose the possibility that M4 materials were an example of biofilm-like entity proposed recently by other authors [3] serving as the starting point where life and non-life molecules interacted within a tight and rigid environment which eventually gave rise to a variety and plurality of progenotes, one of which became LUCA evolving from IDAs. The effects of extreme conditions on the catalytic activities of structures made of M4 material will be presented.