Phosphate problem of the origin of life

The phosphate problem of the origin of life describes the unresolved source of phosphorus in prebiotic chemistry. Phosphorus is an essential component of universal biomolecules including DNA, RNA, phospholipids, and ATP, and therefore a requisite of biological information storage, compartmentalization, and metabolism. However, the present understanding of the early Earth during the Hadean eon, when biological life is estimated to have emerged, suggests that phosphorus would have been locked into insoluble apatite minerals and unavailable to undergo reactions leading to the synthesis of prebiotic molecules. The phosphate problem represents a critical gap in knowledge regarding the origin of life.

Researchers have attempted to solve the phosphate problem with hypotheses of prebiotic chemistry and geological context that could explain the chemical species of phosphorus or source of phosphate that could have led to the early synthesis of biomolecules. Either phosphorus was available in another form such as phosphite, or there was an environmental mechanism to concentrate bio-available forms of phosphate. Leading hypotheses supported by both environmental observations and laboratory experiments have provided evidence suggesting large closed-basin soda lakes could have concentrated phosphate for theorized prebiotic synthesis mechanisms.