In The Ancient Ocean, Did Metabolism Precede The Origin Of Life?
Friday, April 25, 2014 - 12:50
in Biology & Nature
A new report in Molecular Systems Biology speculates about how primitive cells learned to synthesize their organic components – the molecules that form RNA, lipids and amino acids. The paper also suggests an order for the sequence of events that led to the origin of life. A simulated reconstruction of Earth's earliest ocean in the laboratory revealed the spontaneous occurrence of the chemical reactions used by modern cells to synthesize many of the crucial organic molecules of metabolism. Previously, it was assumed that these reactions were carried out in modern cells by metabolic enzymes, highly complex molecular machines that came into existence during the evolution of modern organisms. read more