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Title: Origin of life: Chemistry of seabed's hot vents could explain emergence of life
Source: [None]
URL Source: [None]
Published: Apr 29, 2015
Author: staff
Post Date: 2015-04-29 03:12:21 by Tatarewicz
Keywords: None
Views: 788
Comments: 34

ScienceDaily...

Hot vents on the seabed could have spontaneously produced the organic molecules necessary for life, according to new research by UCL chemists. The study shows how the surfaces of mineral particles inside hydrothermal vents have similar chemical properties to enzymes, the biological molecules that govern chemical reactions in living organisms. This means that vents are able to create simple carbon-based molecules, such as methanol and formic acid, out of the dissolved CO2 in the water.

The discovery, published in the journal Chemical Communications, explains how some of the key building blocks for organic chemistry were already being formed in nature before life emerged -- and may have played a role in the emergence of the first life forms. It also has potential practical applications, showing how products such as plastics and fuels could be synthesised from CO2 rather than oil.

"There is a lot of speculation that hydrothermal vents could be the location where life on Earth began," says Nora de Leeuw, who heads the team. "There is a lot of CO2 dissolved in the water, which could provide the carbon that the chemistry of living organisms is based on, and there is plenty of energy, because the water is hot and turbulent. What our research proves is that these vents also have the chemical properties that encourage these molecules to recombine into molecules usually associated with living organisms."

The team combined laboratory experiments with supercomputer simulations to investigate the conditions under which the mineral particles would catalyse the conversion of CO2 into organic molecules. The experiments replicated the conditions present in deep sea vents, where hot and slightly alkaline water rich in dissolved CO2 passes over the mineral greigite (Fe3S4), located on the inside surfaces of the vents. These experiments hinted at the chemical processes that were underway. The simulations, which were run on UCL's Legion supercomputer and HECToR (the UK national supercomputing service), provided a molecule-by-molecule view of how the CO2 and greigite interacted, helping to make sense of what was being observed in the experiments. The computing power and programming expertise to accurately simulate the behaviour of individual molecules in this way has only become available in the past decade.

"We found that the surfaces and crystal structures inside these vents act as catalysts, encouraging chemical changes in the material that settles on them," says Nathan Hollingsworth, a co-author of the study. "They behave much like enzymes do in living organisms, breaking down the bonds between carbon and oxygen atoms. This lets them combine with water to produce formic acid, acetic acid, methanol and pyruvic acid. Once you have simple carbon-based chemicals such as these, it opens the door to more complex carbon-based chemistry."

Theories about the emergence of life suggest that increasingly complex carbon-based chemistry led to self-replicating molecules -- and, eventually, the appearance of the first cellular life forms. This research shows how one of the first steps in this journey may have occurred. It is proof that simple organic molecules can be synthesised in nature without living organisms being present. It also confirms that hydrothermal vents are a plausible location for at least part of this process to have occurred.

The study could also have a practical applications, as it provides a method for creating carbon-based chemicals out of CO2, without the need for extreme heat or pressure. This could, in the long term, replace oil as the raw material for products such as plastics, fertilisers and fuels.

This study shows, albeit on a very small scale, that such products, which are currently produced from non-renewable raw materials, can be produced by more environmentally friendly means. If the process can be scaled up to commercially viable scales, it would not only save oil, but use up CO2 -- a greenhouse gas -- as a raw material.

Journal Reference:

A. Roldan, N. Hollingsworth, A. Roffey, H.-U. Islam, J. B. M. Goodall, C. R. A. Catlow, J. A. Darr, W. Bras, G. Sankar, K. B. Holt, G. Hogarth, N. H. de Leeuw. Bio-inspired CO2conversion by iron sulfide catalysts under sustainable conditions. Chem. Commun., 2015; 51 (35): 7501 DOI: 10.1039/C5CC02078F

University College London. "Origin of life: Chemistry of seabed's hot vents could explain emergence of life." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 27 April 2015. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/04/150427101635.htm


Poster Comment:

Something for you non-evolutionists to ponder.

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Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 10.

#1. To: Tatarewicz (#0) (Edited)

We've finally found them -- our original parents, the sea vents! MOM! DAD!!!...

NeoconsNailed  posted on  2015-04-29   3:27:31 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#2. To: NeoconsNailed (#1)

LMAO

Exactly!

Any boob that would believe something like that needs an adjustment.

Katniss  posted on  2015-04-29   8:04:02 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#3. To: Katniss (#2)

What's so hard to believe about it?

As the saying goes, God works in mysterious ways.

Our Universe is very much more alive than most people think.

FormerLurker  posted on  2015-04-29   12:21:25 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#4. To: FormerLurker (#3)

What's so hard to believe about it?

It's not the vents. It's the idea that live evolved from simpler to more complex forms.

Where are the transitional forms in the fossil record?

NeoconsNailed  posted on  2015-04-29   13:12:57 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#5. To: NeoconsNailed (#4)

Is it easier to believe that some guy in the sky wished it into existance?

FormerLurker  posted on  2015-04-29   13:28:22 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#6. To: FormerLurker (#5)

Is it easier to believe that some guy in the sky wished it into existance?

I don't really know, because I've never heard that as an explanation. But evolutionism is no less a matter of faith than the creation account in Genesis.

Looks like we'll have to put the transitional forms to bed, e.g. a fossil or skeleton of something like 1/4 of the way to a bird with wings. They should be available at many stages of the process -- a little bump on an adult creature that's going to grow into a wing, a little appendage on its way to being a wing, halfway to being a wing etc. There are none, that's how it is.

I agree with the immortal Fred Reed on this. I honestly don't know where it all came from. I'd love to just believe Genesis, but humanity is such a disaster I'm left wondering what God would have deliberately created it.

But macro-evolution is absolutely impossible, and evolutionism has -- yea even as creationists complain -- been a a bit of a blight on things. Hey, how true can it be if it's central to the entire psychosis of liberalism -- public skools, the works? If the commie-Jew media ram it down our throats in every possible and conceivable TV program, somebody should smell a rat.

When light first strikes the retina a photon interacts with a molecule called 11-cis-retinal, which rearranges within picoseconds to trans-retinal. (A picosecond is about the time it takes light to travel the breadth of a single human hair.) The change in the shape of the retinal molecule forces a change in the shape of the protein, rhodopsin, to which the retinal is tightly bound. The protein’s metamorphosis alters its behavior. Now called metarhodopsin II, the protein sticks to another protein, called transducin. Before bumping into metarhodopsin II, transducin had tightly bound a small molecule called GDP. But when transducin interacts with metarhodopsin II, the GDP falls off, and a molecule called GTP binds to transducin. (GTP is closely related to, but critically different from, GDP.)

GTP-transducin-metarhodopsin II now binds to a protein called phosphodiesterase, located in the inner membrane of the cell. When attached to metarhodopsin II and its entourage, the phosphodiesterase acquires the chemical ability to “cut” a molecule called cGMP (a chemical relative of both GDP and GTP). Initially there are a lot of cGMP molecules in the cell, but the phosphodiesterase lowers its concentration, just as a pulled plug lowers the water level in a bathtub. Another membrane protein that binds cGMP is called an ion channel. It acts as a gateway that regulates the number of sodium ions in the cell. Normally the ion channel allows sodium ions to flow into the cell, while a separate protein actively pumps them out again. The dual action of the ion channel and pump keeps the level of sodium ions in the cell within a narrow range. When the amount of cGMP is reduced because of cleavage by the phosphodiesterase, the ion channel closes, causing the cellular concentration of positively charged sodium ions to be reduced. This causes an imbalance of charge across the cell membrane that, finally, causes a current to be transmitted down the optic nerve to the brain. The result, when interpreted by the brain, is vision. If the reactions mentioned above were the only ones that operated in the cell, the supply of 11-cis-retinal, cGMP, and sodium ions would quickly be depleted. Something has to turn off the proteins that were turned on and restore the cell to its original state. Several mechanisms do this. First, in the dark the ion channel (in addition to sodium ions) also lets calcium ions into the cell. The calcium is pumped back out by a different protein so that a constant calcium concentration is maintained. When cGMP levels fall, shutting down the ion channel, calcium ion concentration decreases, too. The posphodiesterase enzyme, which destroys cGMP, slows down at lower calcium concentration. Second, a protein called guanylate cyclase begins to resynthesize cGMP when calcium levels start to fall. Third, while all of this is going on, metarhodopsin II is chemically modified by an enzyme called rhodopsin kinase. The modified rhodopsin then binds to a protein known as arrestin, which prevents the rhodopsin from activating more transducin. So the cell contains mechanisms to limit the amplified signal started by a single photon. Trans-retinal eventually falls off of rhodopsin and must be reconverted to 11-cis-retinal and again bound by rhodopsin to get back to the starting point for another visual cycle. To accomplish this, trans-retinal is first chemically modified by an enzyme to trans-retinol— a form containing two more hydrogen atoms. A second enzyme then converts the molecule to 11-cis-retinol. Finally, a third enzyme removes the previously added hydrogen atoms to form 11-cis-retinal, a cycle is complete.

www.fredoneverything.net /BotFly.shtml

NeoconsNailed  posted on  2015-04-29   15:25:52 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#10. To: NeoconsNailed (#6) (Edited)

I don't really know, because I've never heard that as an explanation. But evolutionism is no less a matter of faith than the creation account in Genesis.

I said it metaphorically. In other words, most who are opposed to the idea of anything other than the word for word verbiage of the Genesis Creation story usually consider "God" to be a manlike yet sprititual creature who exists somewhere undefined called "Heaven", which is often considered by religious folk as "up there in the sky somewhere".

There is Genesis, there is Darwin, there are countless other beliefs, yet there is but ONE Truth.

I doubt any of us here on Earth know for certain what that Truth is.

In terms of what is possible, who's to say that the Universe (and what exists beyond it, before it, and after it) is/are not actually "God" itself.

Just a thought, but as you illustrate with the scientific truths you cut and pasted, it's readily apparent that the formulation and functional aspects of biological entities (or much else for that matter) did not occur by random chance.

As far as the concept that certain building blocks of life can begin in ocean vents, I find that highly plausible, especially given that life on Earth began in the oceans.

You mention creatures with "half wings". Compare dinosaur skeletons with those of modern day birds. They are close to identical in general structure, although their sizes are obviously different.

FormerLurker  posted on  2015-04-29   17:35:08 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


Replies to Comment # 10.

#15. To: FormerLurker (#10)

I don't really know, because I've never heard that as an explanation. But evolutionism is no less a matter of faith than the creation account in Genesis.

I said it metaphorically. In other words, most who are opposed to the idea of anything other than the word for word verbiage of the Genesis Creation story usually consider "God" to be a manlike yet sprititual creature who exists somewhere undefined called "Heaven", which is often considered by religious folk as "up there in the sky somewhere".

Right. And I answered both your literal and facetious angles.

There is Genesis, there is Darwin, there are countless other beliefs, yet there is but ONE Truth.

I doubt any of us here on Earth know for certain what that Truth is.

We could probably agree on that -- big concession from one who's defended and expounded the Bible as the inerrant Word of God for ages.

In terms of what is possible, who's to say that the Universe (and what exists beyond it, before it, and after it) is/are not actually "God" itself.

That is a possibility often considered -- or that we're his thoughts. Science is even now saying every thought we have may instantly be becoming reality in some plane of existence.

Just a thought, but as you illustrate with the scientific truths you cut and pasted, it's readily apparent that the formulation and functional aspects of biological entities (or much else for that matter) did not occur by random chance.

Definitely -- and it would support creation rather than the big bang or whatever. See, the problem with all that is that it goes against -- what is it, Newton's second law? -- that says everything that happens has a cause. To say natural selection brought about advances in species differentiation ignores the fact that there has to be a cause behind that.

It's sort of like the people who try to get us off the theistic hook by saying God didn't create us, we were put here to people this beautiful world by interplanetary beings. Fine, but who gave them life? The lame dodges and subterfuges evolutioneers throw in are simply incredible.

As far as the concept that certain building blocks of life can begin in ocean vents, I find that highly plausible, especially given that life on Earth began in the oceans.

Who says it did? Now this is sounding like a religion!

You mention creatures with "half wings". Compare dinosaur skeletons with those of modern day birds. They are close to identical in general structure, although their sizes are obviously different.

ROTF!!!! Absolutely hopeless. Doesn't help you at all. You might want to quit while you're, uh, ahead.... but I can't wait to see what you say next! :-)

NeoconsNailed  posted on  2015-04-29 20:22:38 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


End Trace Mode for Comment # 10.

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