Scientists cheer: the laboratory reproduces the formation of life components 4 billion years ago! Reveal the origin of life

Scientists have recreated in the laboratory how the ingredients of life in the depths of the ocean were formed 4 billion years ago. The results of this new research provide us with clues about how life on earth began, and we may find it in other parts of the universe.

A time-lapse video of a miniature hydrothermal chimney was formed in the laboratory, just like the early earth's oceans. Natural ventilation holes can last for thousands of years and grow to tens of yards (meters) high. )

Laurie bulger, an astrobiologist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, and her team are studying the origin of life on Earth to determine life on other planets. Their research focuses on how the components of life are formed in submarine hydrothermal vents.

In order to rebuild the hydrothermal vent in the laboratory, the team filled the beaker with a mixture that simulated the original ocean of the earth and made its own miniature seabed. The sea in these laboratories is a hotbed of amino acids. As we know, amino acids are essential organic compounds for life. Just like Lego bricks, amino acids are superimposed on each other to form protein, which constitutes all living things.

"Before you have a real cell, it is very important to know how far organic matter and minerals can take you, which is very important to know what kind of environment life may be born from," said the lead researcher and first author of the new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. "In addition, investigating the influence of factors such as the atmosphere, oceans and minerals in vents on all this can help you understand the possibility of this happening on another planet."

Hydrothermal vents found around submarine cracks are places where natural chimneys are formed, releasing heated fluids under the crust. When these chimneys interact with the surrounding seawater, they create a constantly changing environment, which is necessary for the evolution and change of life. This dark and warm environment provided by geochemical energy may be the key to the formation of life in the world outside the solar system, far away from the heat of the sun.

"If there are these hydrothermal vents on Earth, similar reactions may occur on other planets," said Erika Flores of JPL, co-author of the new study.

Barge and Flores used common ingredients in the early earth's oceans in their experiments. They combine water, minerals and "precursor" molecules of pyruvate and ammonia, which are necessary to start forming amino acids. They tested their hypothesis by heating the solution to 158 degrees Fahrenheit (70 degrees Celsius)-the same temperature as that near the hydrothermal vent-and adjusting the pH value to simulate an alkaline environment. They also removed oxygen from the mixture, because unlike today, there was very little oxygen in the early earth's oceans. The team also used the mineral iron hydroxide, which was a large number of "green rust" on the early earth.

Green rust reacts with a small amount of oxygen injected into the solution by the team to produce amino acids alanine and α -hydroxylactic acid. α -hydroxy acids are by-products of amino acid reactions, but some scientists speculate that they can also combine to form more complex organic molecules, thus producing life.

A hydrothermal vent is a place on the seabed, where warm water from below the earth's crust is mixed with seawater near freezing point. These vents form natural chimneys and are hosts of various marine life.

"We have proved that under geological conditions similar to those of the early earth, perhaps on other planets, we can form amino acids and α -hydroxy acids through simple reactions under mild conditions, which originally existed on the seabed," said the barge.

Amino acids and α -hydroxy acids produced by barges in the laboratory are the results of nine years' research on the origin of life. Previous studies focused on whether the correct composition of life was found in hydrothermal vents and how much energy these vents could generate (enough to power a light bulb). But this new study is the first time that her team has observed an environment-driven organic reaction, which is very similar to hydrothermal vents. Barge and her team will continue to study these reactions, hoping to find more life components and create more complex molecules.