As humans, we have always been curious about how our environment came to be. We often ask questions on how we came to be, and this question has boggled the minds of scientists for several generations. Many theories are trying to explain how the Earth and life on it came to be, but nothing seemed to be more accessible and widely accepted as Charles Darwin's "Warm Little Pond" theory.
In a letter to his dear friend Joseph Hooker, Darwin explained his speculation that life started on a warm little pond. This metaphorical pond refers to the highly chemical nature of volcanic pools where all sorts of chemicals came together and developed a complex protein compound. With this theory as the backbone of modern research in evolutionary biology, scientists published studies after studies often proving and sometimes offering a new perspective on the subject of life's origins.
One of the studies offering a new perspective is the recently published journal written by scientists from the University College London (UCL).
HYDROTHERMAL VENTS, NOT SHALLOW PONDS
The recent study produced by scientists from UCL opposes the convention of the warm little pond theory by saying life could have originated from deep-sea hydrothermal vents. In an interview with The Daily Mail, Professor Nick Lane from the UCL Genetics, Evolution, and Environment explained: "Underwater hydrothermal vents are among the most promising locations for life's beginnings - our findings now add weight to that theory with solid experimental evidence."
The supporting evidence that Professor Lane and his team recreated cells that are capable of self-assembly in a similar environment to underwater vents. Through this experiment, the team found out that the synthetic cell formation reacts positively to the heat, alkalinity, and salt.
These findings are, indeed, a breakthrough and more or less promising in the search for extraterrestrial life forms since most of the planets in the solar system have similar vents occurring within.
RECREATING THE EXPERIMENT
In coming to this conclusion, professor Lane and his colleagues created protocells made from synthetic chemical particles that possess cell-like structures. This experiment was not the first one to be conducted by the research team. The previous experiments were failures: it had failed to foster the formation of the actual protocells. This is the most vital part because this is the road to the development of cell-based life.
According to the journal that was published by the team in Nature Ecology & Evolution, the creation of these protocells is the most important step. These cells consist of a bilayer membrane around an aqueous solution. The creation of these protocells is considered as a big and important step.
The previous versions of this study identified one reason for failure: molecule types. The study's first author Dr. Sean Jordan of UCL explains: "Other experiments had all used a small number of molecule types, mostly with fatty acids of the same size, whereas in natural environments, you would expect to see a wider array of molecules."
With this in mind, the research team developed the protocells with quite a mixture of different fatty acids and alcohols that had not previously been used. Molecules with longer carbon chains need heat to form themselves and turn to a vesicle - the protocell. The alkalinity of the solution preserves the electric charge of the vesicles, and saltwater makes fat molecules band together, which makes forming stable vesicles possible.
