It has always been a mystery that life on Earth came from various non-living molecules. Experiments can show us how well the steps have been taken.
For example, water seems to have been essential for life since the beginning. However, the process of building some of life’s most important parts shows a frustrating reluctance to read.
As John Yen, a biochemical engineer at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said: “We know that amino acids are the building blocks of proteins and that proteins are essential for life. And in prebiotic chemistry the question is always: how do these things eventually lead to a living cell? “We form bonds and threads in such a way that we can unravel them. And the question is difficult because some chemistry tends to fail in the presence of water.” The dominant theory since the time of Charles Darwin has been that life arose from a strictly wet “primitive soup,” making it difficult to reconcile the precise role that water may have played in the origins of the first recurrent and self-replicating reactions.
Therefore, Hayley Boyginzan, a chemical engineer at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, conducted a study of a simulated variable environment—an environment in which conditions alternate between wet and dry and can easily be- replicate in nature with tides and day/night cycles. as well as changing weather.
Boyginzan’s team put together a set of amino acids that proved easy to produce naturally. Structures that appear as the building blocks of proteins—units capable of carrying out the mechanical work of life processes—are a good bet for playing an important role in the earliest forms of life.
Unfortunately, linking these units together in longer chains is difficult. In this case, the researchers used the amino acid – glycine.
Then they added trimetaphosphate, a molecule produced naturally in volcanoes. Finally, the soup is “seasoned” with sodium hydroxide (NaOH) to increase the acidity.
During the first hour of the experiment, glycine pairs to form a two-unit molecule called a dimer. This reaction releases protons, which neutralize the pH, effectively putting the brakes on the entire process.
As found in previous research, as the pH of the solution became more neutral, the dimers gradually began to associate with slightly longer chains. However, as the solution dried, the reaction rate increased, probably due to the closer concentration of the molecules.
“What we show here is not necessarily the same environment for all reactions. The reactions that occur can occur in different environments, provided that it helps to create a beneficial environment for the next one,” said Boyginzan. steps.”
A transition cycle between wet and dry conditions can change the molecule into more complex proteins, some of which can catalyze other chemical reactions that occur in life. The long-standing knowledge of these interaction mechanisms and the limited appreciation of their relationship suggests that more attention may be useful, in addition to the impact of the interactions of the proposed prebiotics with their environment. . environmental influence around the reactions.
Earlier this year, chemists discovered that free-floating amino acids are more reactive at the air-water interface of small droplets. Moreover, these reactions took place in natural environmental conditions without the need for other chemicals or radiation.
There is still a long way to go to understand everything involved, but understanding the processes behind the creation of life may also open the door to new, more powerful chemistry-based technologies.
This research was published in The Origins of Life and the Evolution of the Oceans.
Source: ScienceAlert
Source: Arabic RT
