Origins of building blocks of life: A review     

Norio Kitadai  Shigenori Maruyama 《地学前缘(英文版)》2018,(4)

How and where did life on Earth originate? To date, various environments have been proposed as plausible sites for the origin of life. However, discussions have focused on a limited stage of chemical evolution, or emergence of a specific chemical function of proto-biological systems. It remains unclear what geochemical situations could drive all the stages of chemical evolution, ranging from condensation of simple inorganic compounds to the emergence of self-sustaining systems that were evolvable into modern biological ones. In this review, we summarize reported experimental and theoretical findings for prebiotic chemistry relevant to this topic, including availability of biologically essential elements(N and P) on the Hadean Earth, abiotic synthesis of life's building blocks(amino acids, peptides, ribose, nucleobases, fatty acids, nucleotides, and oligonucleotides), their polymerizations to bio-macromolecules(peptides and oligonucleotides), and emergence of biological functions of replication and compartmentalization. It is indicated from the overviews that completion of the chemical evolution requires at least eight reaction conditions of(1) reductive gas phase,(2) alkaline pH,(3) freezing temperature,(4)fresh water,(5) dry/dry-wet cycle,(6) coupling with high energy reactions,(7) heating-cooling cycle in water, and(8) extraterrestrial input of life's building blocks and reactive nutrients. The necessity of these mutually exclusive conditions clearly indicates that life's origin did not occur at a single setting; rather, it required highly diverse and dynamic environments that were connected with each other to allow intratransportation of reaction products and reactants through fluid circulation. Future experimental research that mimics the conditions of the proposed model are expected to provide further constraints on the processes and mechanisms for the origin of life.  相似文献   

Cep A: A possible proto-cluster     

Saeko S. Hayashi  Norio Kaifu  Tetsuo Hasegawa 《Astrophysics and Space Science》1986,119(1):155-157

We present high resolution CS and CO maps of Cep A region made with the 45m telescope at Nobeyama. The CS map shows that a dense cloud surrounding the proto-star cluster extends in the North-South direction and is probably rotating. The bipolar molecular flow apparent in the CO maps is well-collimated along East-West direction within 0.2 pc from the proto-stars. The dense cloud is gravitationally unstable and appears to be in a contracting phase to form a cluster of massive stars.Paper presented at the IAU Third Asian-Pacific Regional Meeting, held in Kyoto, Japan, between 30 September–6 October, 1984.NRO, a branch of the Tokyo Astronomical Observatory, University of Tokyo, is a cosmic radio observing facility open for outside users.  相似文献   

Editorial     

Yi-Ming Wei  Norio Okada 《Natural Hazards》2012,62(1):1-2

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Electrical conduction and polarization of calcite single crystals     

Norio Wada  Naohiro Horiuchi  Wei Wang  Tetsuo Hiyama  Miho Nakamura  Akiko Nagai  Kimihiro Yamashita 《Physics and Chemistry of Minerals》2012,39(9):761-768

The electrical conductivity and polarization properties of calcite single crystals with three orientations, namely, a (00.1) plane perpendicular to the crystallographic c axis (10.0) plane parallel to the crystallographic c axis, and a (10.4) cleavage plane, were studied by both complex impedance and thermally stimulated depolarization current (TSDC) measurements. Conductivities for (00.1)-, (10.0)-, and (10.4)-oriented single calcite crystals at 400–600?°C were 1.16?×?10^?7?–?1.05?×?10^?5, 7.40?×?10^?8?–?4.27?×?10^?6, and 4.27?×?10^?7?–?2.86?×?10^?5 Ω^?1 m^?1, respectively, and the activation energies for conduction were 112, 103, and 101?kJ?mol^?1, respectively. The TSDC spectra verified the electrical polarizability of calcite crystals. The activation energy for depolarization, estimated from TSDC spectra, of the (00.1)-, (10.0)-, and (10.4)-oriented calcite substrates were 112, 119, and 114?kJ?mol^?1, respectively. Considering the correlation between the processes of conduction and electric polarization, we proposed the mechanisms of conduction and polarization in calcite on the assumption of oxide ion transport.  相似文献   

Tributyltin in blood of marine fish collected from a coastal area of northern Kyushu, Japan     

Miki S  Ikeda K  Oba Y  Satone H  Honda M  Shimasaki Y  Onikura N  Arakawa O  Oshima Y 《Marine pollution bulletin》2011,62(11):2533-2536

We investigated levels of the pollutant tributyltin (TBT) in blood of pufferfishes (six species), Japanese sea perch, red sea bream, Japanese common goby, Japanese flounder, rockfish, conger eel, and sea mullet collected off the coast of northern Kyushu, Japan. We found considerable levels of TBT (1.4-190 ng/mL) accumulated in the blood of these fish. Blood TBT concentrations were 1.3-22.5 times liver concentrations and 4.9-78 times muscle concentrations, except in conger eel and mullet. We detected TBT (16-111 ng/mL-blood) in the plasma of the fine-patterned puffer (Takifugupoecilonotus) year-round, without any apparent seasonal trend. These results suggest that fish inhabiting coastal areas of Kyushu, Japan, continue to be contaminated with TBT.  相似文献   

Hydration-dehydration interactions between glycine and anhydrous salts: Implications for a chemical evolution of life     

Norio Kitadai  Tadashi Yokoyama 《Geochimica et cosmochimica acta》2011,75(21):6285-6299

Polymerizations of organic monomers including amino acids, nucleotides and monosaccharides are essential processes for chemical evolution of life. Since these reactions proceed with “dehydration” reactions, they are possibly promoted if combined with thermodynamically favorable “hydration” reactions of minerals and salts. To test the possibility, we conducted heating experiments of the simplest amino acid “glycine (Gly)” mixed with four simple anhydrous salts (MgSO₄, SrCl₂, BaCl₂ and Li₂SO₄) at 140 °C up to 20 days. Gly polymerization was strongly promoted by mixing with the salts in the order of MgSO₄ > SrCl₂ > BaCl₂ > Li₂SO₄. Up to 6-mer of Gly polymers were synthesized in the Gly-MgSO₄ mixture, and a total yield of Gly polymers attained about 7% of the initial amount of Gly by the 20 days heating. The total yield was about 200 times larger than that from the heating of Gly alone. XRD measurements of the Gly-MgSO₄ mixture revealed the generation of MgSO₄ monohydrate during Gly polymerization. These observations indicate that Gly polymerization was promoted by the salt hydrations through the hydration-dehydration interactions. Based on the observations, we tried to find a relationship between thermodynamic characteristics of the interactions and the promotion effects of each salt on Gly polymerization. It was found that the salts having lower hydration Δ_rG⁰ (easier to hydrate) promote Gly polymerization more strongly. The relationship was used to estimate promotion effects of simple oxide minerals on Gly polymerization. The estimations were consistent with previous observations about the effects of these minerals on Gly polymerization. The fact suggests that the hydration-dehydration interactions between amino acids and minerals are an important mechanism for amino acids’ polymerizations on minerals.  相似文献   

Predicting community earthquake preparedness: a cross-cultural comparison of Japan and New Zealand   总被引：1，自引：1，他引：0  

Douglas Paton  Robert Bajek  Norio Okada  David McIvor 《Natural Hazards》2010,54(3):765-781

This paper reports on a study investigating cross-cultural equivalence in predictors of earthquake preparedness. Data were collected from Napier (New Zealand) and Kyoto (Japan). These locations were selected because they face comparable levels of seismic risk but differ with respect to their cultural characteristics. This mix of hazard similarity and cultural differences provided an opportunity to assess the degree of cross-cultural equivalence in predictors of earthquake preparedness. Cross-cultural equivalence was examined by assessing the degree to which individual hazard beliefs (outcome expectancies) and social characteristics (community participation, collective efficacy, empowerment, trust) could explain levels of hazard preparedness in each location. Structural equation modelling analyses revealed similarity in the pattern of relationships between predictor variables and intention prepare in the Napier and Kyoto data. It is argued that this provides support for the existence of some universal, cross-cultural equivalence in how hazard beliefs and social characteristics interact to predict the degree to which people adopt earthquake preparedness measures. Differences between the data sets are discussed in the context of the fundamental cultural differences between Japan and New Zealand. The theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.  相似文献   

Detection of nitrate sources in urban groundwater by isotopic and chemical indicators,Hangzhou City,China   总被引：4，自引：0，他引：4  

Zanfang?JinEmail author  Yingxu?Chen  Feier?Wang  Norio?Ogura 《Environmental Geology》2004,45(7):1017-1024

The sources of nitrate in the shallow groundwater at urban area, Hangzhou City, China were investigated using chemical and isotopic techniques. Groundwater electric conductivity was high in the study area and ranged from 369–1,544 S/cm. Most of the groundwater was weakly alkaline and the groundwater chemistry was seriously influenced by land use in the city. There was a high frequency of groundwater (43% of total) with nitrate above World Heath Organizations standards of 10 mg NO₃/L. The different land-use areas had different nitrate concentrations (0.04–34.41 mgN/L) and ¹⁵N _NO3 values (7.8~35.5). Domestic wastewater was the major nitrate source of shallow groundwater in the urban area, and the point source (septic tank) still existed in residential settings. At agricultural settings manure was the major NO₃ sources. High ¹⁵N _NO3 value (>20) and temporal variations of the ¹⁵N _NO3 value suggested that in residential areas it probably resulted from denitrification.  相似文献   

Flow and patterns of nitrate pollution in groundwater: a case study of an agricultural area in Tsukuba City, Japan     

Adrian H. Gallardo  Walter Reyes-Borja  Norio Tase 《Environmental Geology》2005,48(7):908-919

A numerical simulation was applied to first characterize the groundwater flow and patterns of nitrate pollution of a small-agricultural catchment in Tsukuba City, Japan, for a 10-year period. There was a good performance of the flow simulation. In contrast, although the transport model calculated the evolution of the plume, it only provided estimates of solute concentrations. Groundwater contamination increased exponentially during the first 594 days of the simulation, reaching then a near-equilibrium state. Fertilizer applications are responsible for most of the leaching of NO₃⁻ to groundwater, therefore, shifting of crops and the associated agricultural practices may translate into decreases of contamination levels. A series of hypothetical scenarios demonstrated that replacing grasslands by other crops may reduce the contamination levels up to 12%. As the chosen field is a representative of many other agricultural areas in Japan, the approach and results should also be applicable to similar cases around the country.  相似文献   

GEOGRAPHICAL LITERATURE IN JAPAN     

Norio Hasegawa 《The Professional geographer》1980,32(1):90-97

This is the third in a series of reports on Japanese geographic research prepared in cooperation with the Association of Japanese Geographers (AJG). Like the two previous reports, which appeared in the August and November issues, it has been modified for the English-speaking readership of THE PROFESSIONAL GEOGRAPHER. However, unlike the previous articles, each of which aimed at providing data regarding Japanese research on specific geographic topics, this paper is intended to supply the reader with an inventory of those materials that will be needed for the conduct of research in Japan. —H. Jesse Walker, Member, U.S. National Committee, IGU.  相似文献