Theoretical origin of life; latest lab study (Introduction)

by David Turell , Monday, March 16, 2020, 19:28 (1713 days ago) @ David Turell

An iron containing molecule acting as an early enzyme had to be present:

https://phys.org/news/2020-03-scientists-blocks-life.html

"Rutgers researchers have discovered the origins of the protein structures responsible for metabolism: simple molecules that powered early life on Earth and serve as chemical signals that NASA could use to search for life on other planets.

"Their study, which predicts what the earliest proteins looked like 3.5 billion to 2.5 billion years ago

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The ENIGMA project seeks to reveal the role of the simplest proteins that catalyzed the earliest stages of life.

"'We think life was built from very small building blocks and emerged like a Lego set to make cells and more complex organisms like us," said senior author Paul G. Falkowski, ENIGMA principal investigator and a distinguished professor at Rutgers University-New Brunswick who leads the Environmental Biophysics and Molecular Ecology Laboratory. "We think we have found the building blocks of life—the Lego set that led, ultimately, to the evolution of cells, animals and plants."

"The Rutgers team focused on two protein "folds" that are likely the first structures in early metabolism. They are a ferredoxin fold that binds iron-sulfur compounds, and a "Rossmann" fold, which binds nucleotides (the building blocks of DNA and RNA). These are two pieces of the puzzle that must fit in the evolution of life.

"Proteins are chains of amino acids and a chain's 3-D path in space is called a fold. Ferredoxins are metals found in modern proteins and shuttle electrons around cells to promote metabolism. Electrons flow through solids, liquids and gases and power living systems, and the same electrical force must be present in any other planetary system with a chance to support life.

"There is evidence the two folds may have shared a common ancestor and, if true, the ancestor may have been the first metabolic enzyme of life."

Comment: Please see the diagram. What they are presenting is an advanced molecule that may well have been present ass a later part of the process. It does not explain why life exists.