writer：Shuxun Cui*
keywords：Prebiotic Chemical Evolution
source：期刊
specific source：Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2010, 12, 10147-10153
Issue time：2010年
There is no doubt that water is pivotal to life. Yet, as the emergence of life is still a big challenge in science, the detailed involvement of water in that process is not well recognized. Following the clues provided by recent single-molecule studies on DNA, we attempt to elucidate the possible roles of water in the prebiotic chemical evolution. Water has been long recognized as an important reactant in the Miller-Urey experiment and then as the only solvent of the primitive soup. Besides these, water also played a vital role in the prebiotic chemical evolution: water is the important criterion in the combinatorial library screening for self-assembling macromolecules. With this notion, the uniformity of biochemistry for all terrestrial life may be explained. A possible roadmap from inorganic world to the origin of life is also discussed.