Metal Ions and the Route to Life [Hardcover]

1. THE ROLE OF METAL IONS IN THE EMERGENCE OF LIFE; A CALL FOR A CHANGE
IN PARADIGM

2. METAL ION CATALYSIS IN ABIOTIC AND BIOTIC PHASES OF THE DEVELOPMENT
OF LIVING ORGANISMS

3. METALS AND LIFE; AND INTRODUCTION

4. TRACE METALS AS REDOX COFACTORS AND THEIR ROLE IN CONTROLLING
MICROBIAL DIVERSITY AND EVOLUTION

5. ELECTRON TRANSFER SYMPHONY: UNVEILING THE ENIGMATIC ROLE OF
INORGANIC IRON OXIDE AND SULFIDE NANOPARTICLES AS INORGANIC ENZYMES IN EARLY EARTH ENVIRONMENTS

6. APPLICATION OF ELECTRON PARAMAGNETIC RESONANCE SPECTROSCOPY FOR
STUDIES OF PREBIOTIC METALS AND COMPLEXES

7. UNIQUE SEMICONDUCTING PROPERTIES OF LAYERED Mn AND Fe OXIDE MINERALS AND THEIR INFLUENCE ON BIOGEOCHEMICAL PROCESSES

8. Fe-OXYHYDROXIDE GREEN RUST (PROTO)METABOLIZED CO2 AND CH4 PRIOR TO
LIFES EMERGENCE
9. FOUGERITE: FREE ENERGY CONVERTER FOR LIFES CONCEPTION

Metal Ions and the Route to Life?provides the empirical groundwork to interested researchers and the general public for revisiting their preconceived ideas about the origin of life and for appreciating the absolute indispensability of metal ions in life.

Wolfgang Nitschke obtained his Diploma in Physics and his PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Regensburg (Germany). He then worked as a post-doctoral fellow (on grants from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, the CEA and EMBO) with A. W. (Bill) Rutherford, Commissariat ? lEnergie Atomique (Saclay, France) and with Pierre Joliot, Institut de Biologie Physico-Chimique (Paris/France), followed by a position as Assistant Professor at the Albert-Ludwigs-Universitys Institut f?r Biologie (Freiburg/Germany). In 1995, he obtained a permanent position at the CNRS