Iron: The metal that helps shape life on Earth

The new study by researchers at Caltech, the University of Michigan and the University of California at Los Angeles. Potential role of iron in the formation and maintenance of life on Earth.

According to the research, during the formation of our planet, the first seas and oceans were filled with a soluble form of iron that “dominated” the first living organisms and supported the functionality of these first organic cells.

Learn more about the role of iron and other metals For the formation and maintenance of life on Earth, as well as the reason why you need to keep your blood count up to date.

Have you had your blood count today?

Not everything that circulates in the cells of our body and the bodies of other living organisms is organic. A significant portion of minerals, salts and water are necessary for all our systems to remain in perfect balance..

When you read on food labels that other metals such as iron, zinc, magnesium, etc. are added, it is actually a small portion of these elements called “mineral salts” that make up the nutritional corridor of that meal.

This is because our body requires a number of inorganic minerals called essential minerals; These are: sodium, chloride, potassium, bicarbonate, calcium, phosphate, magnesium, nitrate, iron, nitrite, copper, sulfate, manganese, zinc and cobalt.

Each of these elements performs specific functions in our cells and enables the transport of oxygen, transcription of DNA and RNA, cellular respiration, energy supply, transmission of signals from the nervous system, as well as the formation of teeth, bones, and countless other functions. .

Iron performs the functions of transporting gases (oxygen and carbon dioxide), in particular, in the blood, participates in the oxidation of glucose, and also contributes to strengthening immunity and obtaining energy through cellular processes.

Lack of iron in the body can cause moderate to severe diseases such as the famous anemia. This disease is nothing more than our body’s inability to produce and maintain hemoglobin, a blood protein, in sufficient quantity or quality.

hemoglobins They are quaternary structures that have the ability to bind oxygen and carbon dioxide molecules and transport them through the bloodstream, thanks to iron..

Without iron, there is a decrease in hemoglobin production, a decrease in gas transport and glucose oxidation. Without oxygen and energy, the body suffers. Have you done your CBC for this year?

There are other types of anemia caused by poor formation of red blood cells, but the result is much the same. The abnormal shape prevents the correct connection between iron atoms and oxygen and carbon dioxide molecules, causing deficiency in cellular processes and imbalance in the normal functioning of the organism.

Therefore, although there are other minerals that are necessary for our body to function properly, Iron remains the flagship of life, and it appears that iron is also responsible for the existence of life on Earth..

I was born in Demir!

According to research published in PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences), iron was a precursor to life on Earth. At the beginning of the world, water-soluble type II iron was the most abundant essential mineral in the oceans, the study estimates.

The first living organic molecules may have interacted with the mineral, which began to play a crucial role in cellular activities, contributing to energy production, genomic transcription processes, and other cellular activities.

The researchers’ idea holds that these early processes were stimulated only through interaction with iron, contrary to current thinking that all essential minerals have played a role since the beginning of life.

Again, according to the study, other elements became relevant to cellular life. The Great Oxygenation Event, in which Iron II undergoes oxidation and turns into water-insoluble Iron III..

Thus, due to a process of adaptation, primitive life began to interact with and use other essential elements such as zinc, magnesium, and cobalt, developing ways to replace this “unusable” iron.

However, although working models provide very relevant arguments in support of this theory, Life on Earth remains one of the mysteries of science.

Simple interactions with iron may have actually triggered more complex processes that then enabled other elements to maintain their functions, but we still have a long way to go before we can understand how these primitive organisms developed, reproduced, and became complex to this point. Initiating functional life on Earth.

But until then, here’s how we can evaluate ourselves, albeit anecdotally: beings forged and molded from iron.

So, do you want to know how iron contributes to the shaping of other worlds? Stay tuned to TecMundo. And if you caught the reference to being “born of iron,” comment on the house’s motto on our social media. See you soon!