How Life on Earth Started? First Cells Formed From Bubbles of Fat [Study]

There are different accounts as to how life on Earth started. However, Science suggests it started four billion years ago when the first cell formed.

How Did the First Cell Form?

In a new study, researchers may have discovered a crucial detail in how life started on Earth -- the explanation for how fat bubbles originally formed the membranes of the earliest cells. A crucial aspect of the recent discoveries made by researchers at The Scripps Research Institute in California is that it's possible that phosphorylation-a chemical process- occurred sooner than previously believed.

Adding phosphorus-containing atom groups to a molecule confers additional capabilities that can transform spherical assemblies of lipids known as protocells into more developed, adaptable, stable, and chemically active forms.

It is often believed that these protocells played a crucial role in the development of biochemistry about 3.5 billion years ago, possibly originating from submerged hot springs and progressing towards the formation of increasingly intricate biological structures.

According to chemist Ramanarayanan Krishnamurthy of The Scripps Research Institute, we have always wondered where we come from. To learn more about the early Earth's chemical conditions and the potential for life to evolve there, this discovery aids in understanding life's origins.

According to Krishnamurthy and his colleagues ' hypothesis, phosphorylation should have been engaged in the early phases of protocell creation, given how extensively the process is used in the body's biological processes.

The team mixed chemicals like fatty acids and glycerol to generate more complicated vesicle-bubble-like structures that resemble protocells and aid in biological processes in a lab setting that replicated conditions matching the early days on Earth.

The scientists obtained the desired chemical reactions by adjusting the temperature and acidity, which suggests that phosphorylation may have played a role in developing protocells in the primordial ooze.

"The vesicles were able to transition from a fatty acid environment to a phospholipid environment during our experiments, suggesting a similar chemical environment could have existed four billion years ago," said Sunil Pulletikurti.

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What Is Phosphorylation?

Phosphorylation is a metabolic process where an organic component, such as glucose and adenosine diphosphate (ADP), is combined with a phosphate molecule. Adenosine triphosphate (ATP), a crucial substance that provides energy for numerous bodily functions like muscle contraction and nerve impulse transmission, is created when phosphate groups are added to ADP.

Because the phosphorylation reaction is essential to many biological processes, including apoptosis, inflammation, metabolic control, subcellular transport, and proliferation, it is particularly significant in biology. The addition of phosphate molecules to a protein is known as phosphorylation in biology. Thanks to this transfer, the proteins are ready for specific functions in a living organism.

In mammals, phosphorylation occurs at the side chains of three amino acids -- tyrosine (an amino acid made from another amino acid called "phenylalanine" in the body of a living thing), serine, and threonine. On the other hand, histidine phosphorylation has also been discovered in certain investigations.

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