The new research provides the simplest hypothesis yet for the chemical reactions that sparked life on Earth.
The reactions were carried out with a mix of cyanide, ammonia, carbon dioxide, and alpha-keto acids. When the scientists mixed these materials, they started seeing their mixture produce more amino acids — which are a crucial component of the molecules required for life.
“We were expecting it to be quite difficult to figure this out, and it turned out to be even simpler than we had imagined,” said Ramanarayanan Krishnamurthy, lead author on the study. “If you mix only the keto acid, cyanide and ammonia, it just sits there. As soon as you add carbon dioxide, even trace amounts, the reaction picks up speed.”, the scientists describe the role played by each of the materials in their mixture. Alpha-keto acids are used by living cells today to make amino acids.
The researchers also explain that their mixture essentially mimics the way amino acids are formed in living cells. The main difference is that the cyanide replaces the enzymes in living cells — cyanide was thought to be present in the primordial soup, but enzymes would not have existed at that time. The scientists believe that, as their process is simpler than other hypotheses, it is more likely to have occurred during the earliest stages of life formation on our planet.
“What we want to do next is continue probing what kind of chemistry can emerge from this mixture,” said Krishnamurthy. “Can amino acids start forming small proteins? Could one of those proteins come back and begin to act as an enzyme to make more of these amino acids?” The scientists will continue to investigate the chemical reactions that occur in their mixture to better understand the processes that could have been responsible for life on Earth.
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