Did Life Originate From 'Protocells' By Hydrothermal Vents? (independent.co.uk) 86
"Darwin may have been wrong and 'protocells' forming near hydrothermal vents undersea may actually be responsible for the origin of life as we know it," writes Slashdot reader nickwinlund77.
From the article: An experiment replicating the hot, alkaline conditions found at the vents saw the successful creation of protocells -- regarded as a vital basic building block for life... For the new study, the research team tried creating protocells with a mixture of different fatty acids and fatty alcohols which had not previously been tested...
The research, published in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution, even suggests that heat and alkalinity might be not just useful but essential for spawning living things... At the vents, seawater comes into contact with minerals from the planet's crust, reacting to create a warm, alkaline environment containing hydrogen. This process creates the mineral-rich chimneys with alkaline and acidic fluids, providing a source of energy that facilitates chemical reactions between hydrogen and carbon dioxide to form increasingly complex organic compounds. Some of the world's oldest fossils, discovered by a UCL-led team, originated at such underwater vents....
The researchers also pointed out that deep-sea hydrothermal vents are not unique to Earth. The study's lead author, Nick Lane, professor of evolutionary biochemistry at UCL, said: "Space missions have found evidence that icy moons of Jupiter and Saturn might also have similarly alkaline hydrothermal vents in their seas. While we have never seen any evidence of life on those moons, if we want to find life on other planets or moons, studies like ours can help us decide where to look."
From the article: An experiment replicating the hot, alkaline conditions found at the vents saw the successful creation of protocells -- regarded as a vital basic building block for life... For the new study, the research team tried creating protocells with a mixture of different fatty acids and fatty alcohols which had not previously been tested...
The research, published in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution, even suggests that heat and alkalinity might be not just useful but essential for spawning living things... At the vents, seawater comes into contact with minerals from the planet's crust, reacting to create a warm, alkaline environment containing hydrogen. This process creates the mineral-rich chimneys with alkaline and acidic fluids, providing a source of energy that facilitates chemical reactions between hydrogen and carbon dioxide to form increasingly complex organic compounds. Some of the world's oldest fossils, discovered by a UCL-led team, originated at such underwater vents....
The researchers also pointed out that deep-sea hydrothermal vents are not unique to Earth. The study's lead author, Nick Lane, professor of evolutionary biochemistry at UCL, said: "Space missions have found evidence that icy moons of Jupiter and Saturn might also have similarly alkaline hydrothermal vents in their seas. While we have never seen any evidence of life on those moons, if we want to find life on other planets or moons, studies like ours can help us decide where to look."
