Unraveling the Origins of Life: The Story of Living Cells and Protocells

2024-03-05 06:31:37

living cells How did the first place on Earth begin? The story of the origins of life has remained mysterious and has puzzled scientists for hundreds of years. Now, new research has provided some clues that might lead to a bigger answer.

Living cells – “At some point We all wonder where we come from?” Ramanarayanan Krishnamurthy of the Scripps Research Institute in California, USA, said: “This discovery helps us better understand the environment of early Earth. so that we can discover the origins of life and how life might have evolved on early Earth.”
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About 4 billion years ago As the new world was forming it was filled with many chemical atoms and molecules. These people are not alive. It’s just a group of atoms stuck together. But as time and the environment on Earth passed It turned out to be something new: a cell.
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Scientists don’t have an answer for how it changed from a chemical molecule to something with ‘life’. No one can answer. Despite continuous efforts But that process is still clouded over by a dark cloud. Yet we see undeniable evidence that the Earth did in fact create life. It is us who are reading this article.
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“Why do we live? Why do the laws of chemistry make life look the way it does here?” said Matthew Powner, a professor at University of London College who was not involved in the research. It is “the most amazing question we can answer.” You can answer.”
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Although living creatures from the past and present have very different appearances, including long necks, nearly 100 tons of weight, fins, tails, and hair, they are all made from… We have a code on our DNA like sharks in the ocean. And just like a snail moves slowly among a pile of leaves, life on Earth has A, T, C and G, which are the same acid bases on DNA. They differ only in sorting and quantity.
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This DNA is not living. They’re just a bunch of stuck together molecules that roll around in a cell.’ So many scientists are thinking outside the box by turning to so-called ‘protocells’, the precursor cells for Other body cells during the emergence of life It keeps DNA safe under the protection of a barrier of lipid molecules (cell walls).
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Understanding how protocells are formed It may help us understand how the first life arose more easily.
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In this new research The team examined a process called ‘Phosphorylation’, which is a molecule to which a phosphorus atom is added. This causes spherical fat clusters or protocells to develop into complex cells. Versatile, stable, and more chemically active
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The research team hypothesized that Because this process is so ubiquitous in the body’s biological functioning today, ‘phosphorylation’ itself has probably been around since the first cells formed some 4 billion years ago. So they created the environment before the first life existed. (According to currently available knowledge)
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The team incorporated chemicals such as fatty acids and glycerol into those environments. along with slightly adjusting the temperature and acidity Then they observe the chemical reactions of those mixtures and add new substances and reactions, such as imitating lightning.
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It turns out that fatty acid and glycerol vesicles are formed and transformed into cells through phosphorylation in this experiment. So it gives a clue that In the first period, there may have been a chemical environment similar to that in the experiment. And that means This process may be essential for the molecule to transform itself into a cell. This happens almost as soon as the environment allows.
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“We have discovered one possible pathway for how phospholipids (cell walls that contain phosphorus) can form during chemical evolution,” Ashok Deniz said. Professor in the Department of Integrative Structural Biology at The Scripps Research Institute
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“It is exciting to reveal how early chemistry may have changed to allow life on Earth. Our findings also hint at many interesting physics that may have played an important role all the way back to[present]modern cells.”
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Scientists now know that “Phosphorylation process” is “one of the factors” that drives life. It made the cell wall structure more stable in the unpredictable and harsh early environment. It helps that cell survive and evolve further. The team plans to take a deeper look into this process. hoping to get more clues
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“We cannot turn back time. We cannot return to the origin of life. We cannot find an example in that time frame,” Powner said. “Our only potential to truly solve that problem is Rebuilding it from scratch Adjust cell structure and understanding what it takes to create life.”

Searched and edited by Witit Borompichaichartkul

Origin
https://www.cell.com/chem/abstract/S2451-9294(24)00069-X
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1036040
https://www.sciencealert.com/we-may-finally-know-how-the-first-cells-on-earth-formed

single celled organism
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#living #cells #Earth #billion #years

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