Chemists have shown what reactions led to the "birth of life" on Earth

Chemists at Scripps Research have shown that for early education

evolution of the Earth's amino acids and nucleic acids,the basic building blocks of proteins and DNA, respectively, did not require non-standard conditions or rare elements. The chemical reactions described in the article in the journal Nature Chemistry could occur under normal conditions, and required only substances available at that time to initiate them.

Today, in cells, amino acids are generated fromprecursors called α-keto acids, using both nitrogen and specialized proteins called enzymes. In previous work, scientists have shown that α-keto acids may have existed early in Earth's history. However, it was assumed that before the advent of cellular life, amino acids must have been formed from completely different precursors, aldehydes, which did not require enzymes.

In their work, chemists showed that cyanide cansuccessfully replace enzymes as catalysts for reactions that produce amino acids. Because they knew nitrogen would be needed in some form, they added ammonia, a form of nitrogen that would have been present on the early Earth. Then, through trial and error, they discovered the third key ingredient: carbon dioxide. 

It turned out to be even easier than we imaginedrepresented. If you mix only ketoacid, cyanide and ammonia, nothing will happen. But as soon as you add carbon dioxide, even trace amounts, the reaction speeds up.

Ramanarayanan Krishnamurthy, researcher at the Scripps Institution, co-author of the paper

Moreover, the researchers found thata by-product of the same chemical reaction is orotate, a precursor to the nucleotides that make up RNA and DNA. Thus, all the basic components necessary for the origin of life could be formed in large quantities as a result of one set of chemical reactions.

Scheme of chemical reactions. Source: Pulletikurti et al., Nature Chemistry

Scientists believe that since the synthesis of amino acidsin organic cells, it is carried out almost identically to the proposed reactions, with the exception of the use of enzymes instead of cyanide, then such processes served as the primary origin of life on Earth.

New reactions not only give scientists insightabout the chemistry of the early Earth, they will also be useful in industrial production, for example, to create individually labeled biomolecules from low-cost starting materials.

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