Scientists are getting closer to solving the chemical puzzle of the origin of life

People have long wondered how life began After the creation of the Earth billions of years ago. Now, chemists have partially unlocked the recipe by creating a complex compound essential for all life in the laboratory.

Like making ingredients for cake, researchers have successfully created a compound important for metabolism living cells, necessary for the production and regulation of energy. This pathway, which has eluded scientists’ understanding for decades, involved relatively simple molecules that probably existed land Primitives that were combined at room temperature for months.

This discovery supports the idea that many of the key ingredients for life could have formed and combined together in the beginning living cells,

“Why do we have life? He asked, “Why do the laws of chemistry mean that life here looks the way it does?” Matthew Powerer, lead author of the research article. He added, “These are the most wonderful questions we can possibly answer.”

Although organisms differ greatly in appearance, they are made of the same basic chemical building blocks, called primary metabolites, which are directly involved in cell growth and development. Examples include amino acids that help make proteins and nucleotides. royal army And this dna,

The new laboratory experiment focuses on the origin of another primary metabolite: coenzyme a, which is central to metabolism in all areas of life (as one of its many functions). For example, this compound plays an important role in the release of energy from carbohydrates, fats, and proteins in organisms that require oxygen, but it also performs metabolic functions in life forms that do not. oxygenLike many bacteria.

especially, Owner And his team tried to recreate a particular piece of the molecule coenzyme a called pantethene, is the functional arm of coenzyme a, is often transferred and allows other chemical reactions to occur in our bodies. This member is called a co-factor and acts as an “on” switch; Without him coenzyme This would be useless.

“All of our metabolic processes depend on a small subset of these co-factors,” the biologist said. Aaron Goldman, who did not participate in the study. “This has led researchers to argue that these co-factors, themselves, may have preceded larger, more complex enzymes during the origin and early evolution of life,” he said.

Goldman said, some researchers have proposed that primitive life forms could have used pantethene Storing energy preceded the development of the larger, more complex energy currency used by cells today.

If so, the mystery remains: where did pantethene,

“We cannot go back in time. We cannot return to the origin of life. We can’t get samples from that time frame,” declared Powerer, a professor. University College London, “Our only chance to really get to the bottom of that problem is to deconstruct it, start from scratch, reprogram a cell, understand what it takes to build an organism,” he said.

Construction pantethene This was a difficult task. For one thing, the molecule was “weird” by the standards of biochemistry, he said. It was very similar in structure to the peptides (chains of amino acids) used to make proteins, but it had several strange features – unusual elements that were in strange places – that seemed to give it a more complex structure. .

This compound is so strange that scientists previously proposed that it was too complex to be formed from basic molecules. Others have attempted to create pantethene And they failed in thinking that it was not even present at the origin of life. Many scientists thought that biology would have produced a simpler version of this, which would have evolved over time to become more complex – like building a hut and later turning it into a mansion.

However, the team entered the laboratory. He mainly focused on the use of materials that could be found in abundance primitive earth, such as hydrogen cyanide and water. Each first stage of the reaction took about a day, but the final stage lasted 60 days, the laboratory’s longest reaction. Owner you have done this before. The team eventually stopped responding “partly because we got bored”, he said. but the result was nothing pantethene,

The team attributed its success compared to others’ failed studies to the use of nitrogen-based compounds called nitriles. These compounds provided the energy needed to drive the reactions. Without the nitrile, it’s similar to a lawn mower, but without the gas to start it.

“I think it’s surprising that no one has tried it. “If you mix them all together, they’re all cross-reactive with each other,” he said. jasper fairchildPHD candidate University College London Who led the experiment. “You think you’re going to have some disaster, but it doesn’t. You only get pantethene. And to me, it’s very beautiful,” he said.

In primitive earthThe reaction could occur in small ponds or lakes of water, the authors said. However, larger oceans would likely have reduced the concentrations of the chemicals.

“This is another beautiful example of how the molecules of life, even the most complex molecules like coenzymes, are predestined to form,” the chemist explained. joseph moranwho did not participate in the study.

The simple recipe of a complex-looking molecule can help us imagine how life on Earth began. Historically, Powerer said, scientists have proposed that organic molecules appeared in an orderly manner – like a primitive world royal army Which later gave rise to proteins and other chemicals.

But new discovery shows that many of the building blocks of life can be made together from the same basic chemicals and conditions that produce proteins, royal army And other components at the same time.

In fact, previous studies conducted by the team used similar conditions and reactions to create nucleotides (which help make dna) and peptides (which help make proteins). These building blocks could come together, react with each other, and eventually life arose.

A better understanding of how these components form and connect could one day help scientists create life from stable materials in the laboratory or even on another planet.

“We’re a long way from being able to build a cell (from scratch),” Powerer said. “It may not happen in my lifetime, but we are on the way to understanding how these molecules work together,” he concluded.

Washington Post