Scientists may have discovered how the first cells formed on Earth

Science has already made thousands of discoveries in different fields, but the exact process of how life began on Earth is still only theorized by scientists. A new study published in the scientific journal Chem suggests that: A group of researchers made an important discovery to answer this question; They may have revealed how the first cells formed on Earth.

A team of researchers from the Scripps Research Institute in the United States may have found an interpretation of how ‘oil bubbles’ formed the membranes of the first cells on the planet.

The article explains that it is a chemical process called phosphorylation; By that time, science already knew that this phenomenon occurred in nature, but new data show that it happened earlier than previously imagined.

Those little bubbles They may have been the first terrestrial cells to have so-called phospholipid vesicles. They are microscopic spheres consisting of a single molecule (phospholipid), as half of their structure is hydrophilic and the other half is hydrophobic, that is, the molecule attracts water but also repels water.

“At some point we all wonder where we came from. This discovery helps us better understand the chemical environments of early Earth so we can explore the origins of life and how life may have evolved on early Earth,” said Ramanarayanan Krishnamurthy, a Scripps Research Institute chemist and one of the paper’s authors.

The world’s first cells

To perform the search, Scientists have replicated conditions similar to those in Earth’s early days to understand how the first cells formed. Fatty acids and glycerol were used to create such vesicles, so the experiment resulted in chemical reactions that added atoms to a molecule and provided extra functions.

It is important to clarify that this process does not occur quickly, as cell formation may have occurred in different stages. First, the simplest molecules began to come together, and after a while, they formed more complex structures.

More simply, this process may have been part of the building blocks of life that formed on Earth more than 3.5 billion years ago. In any case, researchers say more research still needs to be done to understand the formation of our planet.

“During our experiments, the vesicles were able to switch from a fatty acid environment to a phospholipid environment, suggesting that a similar chemical environment may have existed four billion years ago,” said Sunil Pulletikurti, chemist and co-author of the study. Biophysicist Ashok Deniz adds: “It is exciting to discover how the first chemicals transformed to make life on Earth possible.”

Did you like the content? Stay up to date with more studies on how our planet was formed at TecMundo. If you wish, take the opportunity to discover the clues about the formation of the Earth detected by the James Webb Special Telescope.