Iron is a ubiquitous element in the universe. Ferrous iron (Fe (II)) was abundant in the
primordial ocean until the oxygenation of the Earth's atmosphere led to its widespread …

Living cells are able to harvest energy by coupling exergonic electron transfer between
reducing and oxidising substrates to the generation of chemiosmotic potential. Whereas a …

Nitrogen is an essential element of life that needs to be assimilated in its most reduced form,
ammonium. On the other hand, nitrogen exists in a multitude of oxidation states and …

Many metalloenzymes that inject and extract reducing equivalents at the beginning and the
end of electron transport chains involved in chemiosmosis are suggested, through …

Attempts to draft plausible scenarios for the origin of life have in the past mainly built upon
palaeogeochemical boundary conditions while, as detailed in a companion article in this …

Although at low concentrations, arsenic commonly occurs naturally as a local geological
constituent. Whereas both arsenate and arsenite are strongly toxic to life, a number of …

Natural environments on Earth are amenable to a diverse array of chemical reactions that
can convert one form of nitrogen into another, often with the participation of additional …

Dissimilatory ferrous iron [Fe (II)] oxidation is a well-established microbial energy generation
strategy. This study aims to comprehensively investigate the distribution and evolution of …

Complex life on our planet crucially depends on strong redox disequilibria afforded by the
almost ubiquitous presence of highly oxidizing molecular oxygen. However, the history of O2 …

Living entities are unimaginable without means to harvest free energy from the environment,
that is, without bioenergetics. The quest to understand the bioenergetic ways of early life …