Question

More recent prebiotic simulations in the lab mimic conditions found in _____.
A. Deep sea hydrothermal vents.
B. Shallow ponds
C. Underside of sea ice
D. All of the above

Answer 1

Hint: Prebiotics are defined as "a non-digestible food ingredient which advantages the host by selectively encouraging the development and/or action of a single or a limited range of bacteria found in the colon, and thus improving host health." In a simulation, we end up making a set of predictions about local conditions on the early Earth, whereupon recreate those conditions in the lab and run experiments to see what happens.

Complete step by step solution:
There had to be a source of organic compounds in the prebiotic environment for life to begin. Some of the compounds may have been delivered to Earth by comets, meteorites, and dust particles, but others may have been synthesized in the atmosphere, hydrosphere, and volcanic conditions.

How do we realize this? This question raises the critical issue of prebiotic simulations. We make a series of assumptions regarding local conditions on the early Earth in a simulation, then replicate those conditions in the labs and run experiments to see what happens.

A hydrothermal vent is a fissure on the sea bottom that discharges geothermally heated water. Deep ocean hydrothermal vents typically form along mid-ocean ridges such as the East Pacific Rise and the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. These are areas where two tectonic plates are separating and a new crust is forming.
Thus, the most recent prebiotic simulations in the lab mimic conditions found in deep-sea hydrothermal vents.

The correct option is A.

Note:
The current study looks at the origins of metabolism in a prebiotic deep water hydrothermal vent. To jumpstart the origin of metabolism in chemoautotrophs, zinc sulfide (ZnS, sphalerite) was used as a candidate mineral. At the semiconductor interface, photochemical reactions of simple organic compounds with carbon dioxide occur.