. 2015 Dec;15(12):1031-42.

doi: 10.1089/ast.2015.1113.

A Strategy for Origins of Life Research

Caleb Scharf¹, Nathaniel Virgo², H James Cleaves 2nd^{2

3}, Masashi Aono², Nathanael Aubert-Kato⁴, Arsev Aydinoglu⁵, Ana Barahona⁶, Laura M Barge⁷, Steven A Benner⁸, Martin Biehl^{9

10}, Ramon Brasser², Christopher J Butch¹¹, Kuhan Chandru², Leroy Cronin¹², Sebastian Danielache¹³, Jakob Fischer^{10

14}, John Hernlund², Piet Hut^{2

3}, Takashi Ikegami¹⁰, Jun Kimura², Kensei Kobayashi¹⁵, Carlos Mariscal¹⁶, Shawn McGlynn¹⁷, Brice Menard¹⁸, Norman Packard^{2

19}, Robert Pascal²⁰, Juli Pereto²¹, Sudha Rajamani²², Lana Sinapayen⁹, Eric Smith², Christopher Switzer²³, Ken Takai²⁴, Feng Tian²⁵, Yuichiro Ueno², Mary Voytek²⁶, Olaf Witkowski¹⁰, Hikaru Yabuta²⁷

Affiliations

¹ 1 Columbia University , New York, New York, USA.
² 2 Earth-Life Science Institute (ELSI), Tokyo Institute of Technology , Tokyo, Japan .
³ 3 Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) , Princeton, New Jersey, USA.
⁴ 4 University of Ochanomizu , Tokyo, Japan .
⁵ 5 Middle East Technical University , Ankara, Turkey .
⁶ 6 Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México , Mexico City, Mexico .
⁷ 7 NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology , Pasadena, California, USA.
⁸ 8 Foundation for Applied Molecular Evolution , Gainesville, Florida, USA.
⁹ 9 University of Hertfordshire , Hertfordshire, UK.
¹⁰ 10 University of Tokyo , Tokyo, Japan .
¹¹ 11 ELSI Origins Network (EON), Earth-Life Science Institute (ELSI), Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, Japan, and Emory University , Atlanta, Georgia , USA.
¹² 12 University of Glasgow , Glasgow, UK.
¹³ 13 Sophia University , Tokyo, Japan .
¹⁴ 27 Friedrich Schiller University , Jena, Germany .
¹⁵ 14 Yokohama National University , Yokohama, Japan .
¹⁶ 15 Dalhousie University , Halifax, Canada .
¹⁷ 16 Tokyo Metropolitan University , Tokyo, Japan .
¹⁸ 17 Johns Hopkins University , Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
¹⁹ 18 ProtoLife .
²⁰ 19 CNRS-University of Montpellier , Montpellier, France .
²¹ 20 University of Valencia , Valencia, Spain .
²² 21 Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) , Pune, India .
²³ 22 University of California , Riverside, California, USA.
²⁴ 23 Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC) , Yokosuka, Japan .
²⁵ 24 Center for Earth System Science, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China .
²⁶ 25 NASA Astrobiology Program , Washington, DC, USA.
²⁷ 26 Osaka University , Osaka, Japan .

PMID: 26684503
PMCID: PMC4683543
DOI: 10.1089/ast.2015.1113

A Strategy for Origins of Life Research

Caleb Scharf et al. Astrobiology. 2015 Dec.

. 2015 Dec;15(12):1031-42.

doi: 10.1089/ast.2015.1113.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ 1 Columbia University , New York, New York, USA.
² 2 Earth-Life Science Institute (ELSI), Tokyo Institute of Technology , Tokyo, Japan .
³ 3 Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) , Princeton, New Jersey, USA.
⁴ 4 University of Ochanomizu , Tokyo, Japan .
⁵ 5 Middle East Technical University , Ankara, Turkey .
⁶ 6 Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México , Mexico City, Mexico .
⁷ 7 NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology , Pasadena, California, USA.
⁸ 8 Foundation for Applied Molecular Evolution , Gainesville, Florida, USA.
⁹ 9 University of Hertfordshire , Hertfordshire, UK.
¹⁰ 10 University of Tokyo , Tokyo, Japan .
¹¹ 11 ELSI Origins Network (EON), Earth-Life Science Institute (ELSI), Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, Japan, and Emory University , Atlanta, Georgia , USA.
¹² 12 University of Glasgow , Glasgow, UK.
¹³ 13 Sophia University , Tokyo, Japan .
¹⁴ 27 Friedrich Schiller University , Jena, Germany .
¹⁵ 14 Yokohama National University , Yokohama, Japan .
¹⁶ 15 Dalhousie University , Halifax, Canada .
¹⁷ 16 Tokyo Metropolitan University , Tokyo, Japan .
¹⁸ 17 Johns Hopkins University , Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
¹⁹ 18 ProtoLife .
²⁰ 19 CNRS-University of Montpellier , Montpellier, France .
²¹ 20 University of Valencia , Valencia, Spain .
²² 21 Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) , Pune, India .
²³ 22 University of California , Riverside, California, USA.
²⁴ 23 Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC) , Yokosuka, Japan .
²⁵ 24 Center for Earth System Science, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China .
²⁶ 25 NASA Astrobiology Program , Washington, DC, USA.
²⁷ 26 Osaka University , Osaka, Japan .

PMID: 26684503
PMCID: PMC4683543
DOI: 10.1089/ast.2015.1113

Abstract

Contents 1. Introduction 1.1. A workshop and this document 1.2. Framing origins of life science 1.2.1. What do we mean by the origins of life (OoL)? 1.2.2. Defining life 1.2.3. How should we characterize approaches to OoL science? 1.2.4. One path to life or many? 2. A Strategy for Origins of Life Research 2.1. Outcomes-key questions and investigations 2.1.1. Domain 1: Theory 2.1.2. Domain 2: Practice 2.1.3. Domain 3: Process 2.1.4. Domain 4: Future studies 2.2. EON Roadmap 2.3. Relationship to NASA Astrobiology Roadmap and Strategy documents and the European AstRoMap Appendix I Appendix II Supplementary Materials References.

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Figures

<b>FIG. 1.</b> — **FIG. 1.**
A concept map of the approaches to OoL science (Historical, Synthetic, and Universal) and where selected current areas of study sit in relation to each other and these three approaches. For example, the study of chemical systems overlaps with all three approaches, whereas the study of early Earth is primarily concerned with the single, Historical, nature of terrestrial OoL.

<b>FIG. 2.</b> — **FIG. 2.**
Left: A single historical path from an abiotic to a biotic planet. Right: Many possible paths leading to multiple end points, representing states that differ in some significant way from the biosphere we know on Earth.

<b>FIG. 3.</b> — **FIG. 3.**
A bottleneck in the space of paths to life; some parts of the story are much more tightly constrained than others. In contrast to the case illustrated in Fig. 2 (right panel) where numerous “histories” lead to an OoL event, here only a specific “history” leads to an OoL event.

<b>FIG. 4.</b> — **FIG. 4.**
A conceptual representation of hypothetical pathways from abiotic to living states. An unspecified measure of complexity and/or functionality increases from left to right, and an unspecified measure of the energy or chemical landscape increases bottom to top. Labeled points illustrate various hypothetical situations: (1) A bottleneck—all histories must pass through here for terrestrial OoL—this therefore represents a critical focus for geological study or exploration (*e.g.*, Mars), *cf.* Fig. 2. (2) An alternate (nonterrestrial/actual) abiotic environment nonetheless leads to an exact match to terrestrial OoL. (3) A terrestrial abiotic landscape eventually leads to a nonterrestrial (alternate) biotic system of lower complexity. (4) A pathway exhibits rapid diversification of preliving systems (*e.g.*, molecular structures) although only one leads to an OoL event. (5) A nonterrestrial pathway splits at advanced complexity and leads to a separate OoL event within the same abiotic environment.

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A Strategy for Origins of Life Research

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