---
DOAJ_listed: '1'
OA_place: publisher
OA_type: gold
_id: '21754'
abstract:
- lang: eng
text: The origin(s) of life (OoL), which has puzzled scientists for centuries, remains
a major scientific challenge in the 21st century. Research on OoL spans many disciplines,
including chemistry, physics, biology, planetary sciences, computer science, and
mathematics. The sheer number of different scientific perspectives relevant to
the problem has resulted in the coexistence of diverse tools, techniques, data,
and software in OoL studies. This has made communication between the disciplines
relevant to the OoL extremely difficult because the interpretation of data, analyses,
or standards of evidence varies dramatically. Here, we hope to bridge this wide
field of study by providing common ground via the consolidation of techniques
rather than positing a unifying view on how life emerges. In part 1 of this review,
we cover common experimental techniques that have been used significantly in OoL
studies in recent years, while in part 2, we review theoretical, computational,
and integrative methods. Here, we discuss the use of spectroscopy, spectrometry,
chromatography, microscopy, and sequencing methods for characterizing diverse
materials. We further discuss the role of data repositories in facilitating the
analysis and dissemination of experimental data. This review provides a baseline
expectation and understanding of the analytical aspects of origins’ research.
Ultimately, we aim to provide an educational tool that can facilitate more post-disciplinary
collaborations in OoL research by helping scientists understand what they can
do about the problem of life’s origins, rather than telling them how to think
about it.
acknowledgement: This work is a collaborative effort of the titled authors as part
of the Origin of Life Early Career Network (OoLEN). We chose to add OoLEN as the
first author to give a better representation of this team effort, rather than listing
any single author as the first author. We hope such a thing can be adopted by others.
We indicate that authors 2–9 (S.A., C.B., C. Blanco, D.B., A.C.-R., C.M., O.M.,
Z.P., and A.V.D.) have made a more distinct contribution. All authors are listed
alphabetically by their last names. We would like to acknowledge all current and
past members of OoLEN for their contributions to our community. In particular, we
would like to acknowledge Evrim Fer, who helped with molecular phylogenetics. We
would like to thank the anonymous referees for reviewing Parts 1 and 2 of this manuscript;
this work was significantly improved through their feedback. S.A. acknowledges support
from NASA through the postdoctoral Program at GSFC. C. Bautista acknowledges support
from “la Caixa” Foundation (ID 100010434) under agreement (LCF/BQ/AA16/11580051)
and by the Fonds de recherche du Québec Nature et technologies (FRQNT) (#274987).
C. Blanco acknowledges support from NASA under award 80NSSC21K0595. D.B. acknowledges
support from Centre national d'études spatiales (CNES) and postdoctoral support
from LGPM-CentralSupélec and NASA under award 80NSSC23K1477. E. Camprubi acknowledges
support from UT System for a STARs award. A.C.-R. acknowledges funding from the
Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (grant number RGPIN/05278–2018),
the Fonds de recherche Nature et Technologies of Québec (grant number 314488), and
the Fondation J. Armand Bombardier Excellence Scholarship. A.C.-R.’s research was
supported by an appointment to the NASA Postdoctoral Program from the NASA Astrobiology
Program administered by Oak Ridge Associated Universities under contract with NASA.
S.F.J. acknowledges support from “la Caixa” Foundation (ID 100010434) and from the
European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under the Marie Skłodowska
Curie grant agreement no. 847648 (the fellowship code is LCF/BQ/PI21/11830015).
T.Z.J. acknowledges support from Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS)
grants-in-aid 18K14354 and 21K14746, a Tokyo Institute of Technology Yoshinori Ohsumi
Fund for Fundamental Research, the Mizuho Foundation for the Promotion of Sciences,
and by the Temporary Assistant Program by the DE&I Section of Science Tokyo. A.K.
acknowledges support from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation
program under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Grant agreement no. 101068029. C.M. acknowledges
support from NASA through the postdoctoral Fellowship Program. The views and conclusions
contained in this document are those of the authors and should not be interpreted
as representing the official policies, either expressed or implied, of NASA. O.M.
acknowledges support from The John Templeton Foundation (#62828) and the Foundation
for Science and Technology (2023.05971.CEECIND). B.K.D.P. acknowledges support from
the NSERC Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship. K.P. acknowledges financial support from
the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) under Germany’s
Excellence Strategy EXC 2181/1 - 390900948 (the Heidelberg STRUCTURES Excellence
Cluster) and is a fellow of the International Max Planck Research School for Astronomy
and Cosmic Physics at the University of Heidelberg (IMPRS-HD).
article_number: '103212'
article_processing_charge: Yes
article_type: original
author:
- first_name: Silke
full_name: Asche, Silke
last_name: Asche
- first_name: Carla
full_name: Bautista, Carla
last_name: Bautista
- first_name: Celia
full_name: Blanco, Celia
last_name: Blanco
- first_name: David
full_name: Boulesteix, David
last_name: Boulesteix
- first_name: Alexandre
full_name: Champagne-Ruel, Alexandre
last_name: Champagne-Ruel
- first_name: Cole
full_name: Mathis, Cole
last_name: Mathis
- first_name: Omer
full_name: Markovitch, Omer
last_name: Markovitch
- first_name: Zhen
full_name: Peng, Zhen
last_name: Peng
- first_name: Avinash Vicholous
full_name: Dass, Avinash Vicholous
last_name: Dass
- first_name: Alyssa
full_name: Adams, Alyssa
last_name: Adams
- first_name: Eloi
full_name: Camprubi, Eloi
last_name: Camprubi
- first_name: Enrico Sandro
full_name: Colizzi, Enrico Sandro
last_name: Colizzi
- first_name: Stephanie
full_name: Colón-Santos, Stephanie
last_name: Colón-Santos
- first_name: Hannah
full_name: Dromiack, Hannah
last_name: Dromiack
- first_name: Valentina
full_name: Erastova, Valentina
last_name: Erastova
- first_name: Amanda
full_name: Garcia, Amanda
last_name: Garcia
- first_name: Ghjuvan
full_name: Grimaud, Ghjuvan
last_name: Grimaud
- first_name: Aaron
full_name: Halpern, Aaron
last_name: Halpern
- first_name: Stuart A.
full_name: Harrison, Stuart A.
last_name: Harrison
- first_name: Seán F.
full_name: Jordan, Seán F.
last_name: Jordan
- first_name: Tony Z.
full_name: Jia, Tony Z.
last_name: Jia
- first_name: Amit
full_name: Kahana, Amit
last_name: Kahana
- first_name: Artemy
full_name: Kolchinsky, Artemy
last_name: Kolchinsky
- first_name: Odin
full_name: Moron-Garcia, Odin
last_name: Moron-Garcia
- first_name: Ryo
full_name: Mizuuchi, Ryo
last_name: Mizuuchi
- first_name: Jingbo
full_name: Nan, Jingbo
last_name: 'Nan'
- first_name: Yuliia
full_name: Orlova, Yuliia
last_name: Orlova
- first_name: Ben K.D.
full_name: Pearce, Ben K.D.
last_name: Pearce
- first_name: Klaus
full_name: Paschek, Klaus
last_name: Paschek
- first_name: Martina
full_name: Preiner, Martina
last_name: Preiner
- first_name: Silvana
full_name: Pinna, Silvana
last_name: Pinna
- first_name: Eduardo
full_name: Rodríguez-Román, Eduardo
last_name: Rodríguez-Román
- first_name: Loraine
full_name: Schwander, Loraine
last_name: Schwander
- first_name: Siddhant
full_name: Sharma, Siddhant
id: 36996868-4916-11f1-8c9d-c0c901467b61
last_name: Sharma
- first_name: Harrison B.
full_name: Smith, Harrison B.
last_name: Smith
- first_name: Andrey
full_name: Vieira, Andrey
last_name: Vieira
- first_name: Joana C.
full_name: Xavier, Joana C.
last_name: Xavier
citation:
ama: 'Asche S, Bautista C, Blanco C, et al. What it takes to solve the origin of
life: An integrated review. Part 1–Experimental methods and data repositories.
Cell Reports Physical Science. 2026;7(4). doi:10.1016/j.xcrp.2026.103212'
apa: 'Asche, S., Bautista, C., Blanco, C., Boulesteix, D., Champagne-Ruel, A., Mathis,
C., … Xavier, J. C. (2026). What it takes to solve the origin of life: An integrated
review. Part 1–Experimental methods and data repositories. Cell Reports Physical
Science. Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.xcrp.2026.103212'
chicago: 'Asche, Silke, Carla Bautista, Celia Blanco, David Boulesteix, Alexandre
Champagne-Ruel, Cole Mathis, Omer Markovitch, et al. “What It Takes to Solve the
Origin of Life: An Integrated Review. Part 1–Experimental Methods and Data Repositories.”
Cell Reports Physical Science. Elsevier, 2026. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.xcrp.2026.103212.'
ieee: 'S. Asche et al., “What it takes to solve the origin of life: An integrated
review. Part 1–Experimental methods and data repositories,” Cell Reports Physical
Science, vol. 7, no. 4. Elsevier, 2026.'
ista: 'Asche S, Bautista C, Blanco C, Boulesteix D, Champagne-Ruel A, Mathis C,
Markovitch O, Peng Z, Dass AV, Adams A, Camprubi E, Colizzi ES, Colón-Santos S,
Dromiack H, Erastova V, Garcia A, Grimaud G, Halpern A, Harrison SA, Jordan SF,
Jia TZ, Kahana A, Kolchinsky A, Moron-Garcia O, Mizuuchi R, Nan J, Orlova Y, Pearce
BKD, Paschek K, Preiner M, Pinna S, Rodríguez-Román E, Schwander L, Sharma S,
Smith HB, Vieira A, Xavier JC. 2026. What it takes to solve the origin of life:
An integrated review. Part 1–Experimental methods and data repositories. Cell
Reports Physical Science. 7(4), 103212.'
mla: 'Asche, Silke, et al. “What It Takes to Solve the Origin of Life: An Integrated
Review. Part 1–Experimental Methods and Data Repositories.” Cell Reports Physical
Science, vol. 7, no. 4, 103212, Elsevier, 2026, doi:10.1016/j.xcrp.2026.103212.'
short: S. Asche, C. Bautista, C. Blanco, D. Boulesteix, A. Champagne-Ruel, C. Mathis,
O. Markovitch, Z. Peng, A.V. Dass, A. Adams, E. Camprubi, E.S. Colizzi, S. Colón-Santos,
H. Dromiack, V. Erastova, A. Garcia, G. Grimaud, A. Halpern, S.A. Harrison, S.F.
Jordan, T.Z. Jia, A. Kahana, A. Kolchinsky, O. Moron-Garcia, R. Mizuuchi, J. Nan,
Y. Orlova, B.K.D. Pearce, K. Paschek, M. Preiner, S. Pinna, E. Rodríguez-Román,
L. Schwander, S. Sharma, H.B. Smith, A. Vieira, J.C. Xavier, Cell Reports Physical
Science 7 (2026).
date_created: 2026-04-19T22:07:52Z
date_published: 2026-04-15T00:00:00Z
date_updated: 2026-05-07T12:13:25Z
day: '15'
ddc:
- '570'
doi: 10.1016/j.xcrp.2026.103212
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date_updated: 2026-05-07T05:48:23Z
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intvolume: ' 7'
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language:
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month: '04'
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oa_version: Published Version
publication: Cell Reports Physical Science
publication_identifier:
eissn:
- 2666-3864
publication_status: published
publisher: Elsevier
quality_controlled: '1'
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title: 'What it takes to solve the origin of life: An integrated review. Part 1–Experimental
methods and data repositories'
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