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Hazen RM, Burns PC, Cleaves II HJ, Downs RT, Krivovichev SV, Wong ML. Reply to 'Experimental measurement of assembly indices are required to determine the threshold for life'. J R Soc Interface 2024; 21:20240622. [PMID: 39563497 PMCID: PMC11576840 DOI: 10.1098/rsif.2024.0622] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/04/2024] [Revised: 10/15/2024] [Accepted: 10/18/2024] [Indexed: 11/21/2024] Open
Abstract
We clarify misunderstandings of Walker et al. (Walker et al. 2024 J. R. Soc. Interface 21, 20240367 (doi:10.1098/rsif.2024.0367)) related to studies of the assembly pathways of molecular subunits in minerals. The finding that these subunits have calculated assembly pathways less than approximately 25 informs a central premise of Assembly Theory-that only life can produce numerous copies of molecules with assembly indices above a threshold value. What that threshold value might be, and whether the same value applies to chemical systems as different as organic and inorganic molecules, are questions deserving of additional study.
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Affiliation(s)
- Robert M. Hazen
- Earth and Planets Laboratory, Carnegie Institution for Science, Washington, DC20015, USA
| | - Peter C. Burns
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN46556, USA
| | - H. James Cleaves II
- Earth and Planets Laboratory, Carnegie Institution for Science, Washington, DC20015, USA
- Earth Life Science Institute, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo152-8550, Japan
- Blue Marble Space Institute for Science, Seattle, WA98104, USA
- Department of Chemistry, Howard University, Washington, DC20059, USA
| | - Robert T. Downs
- Geological Sciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ85721, USA
| | - Sergey V. Krivovichev
- Department of Crystallography, Institute of Earth Sciences, St Petersburg State University, St Petersburg199034, Russia
- Nanomaterials Research Centre, Kola Science Centre, Russian Academy of Sciences, Fersmma 14, Apatity184209, Russia
| | - Michael L. Wong
- Earth and Planets Laboratory, Carnegie Institution for Science, Washington, DC20015, USA
- Sagan Fellow, NASA Hubble Fellowship Program, Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, MD21218, USA
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