Did volcanic ‘glasses’ help spark early life?

Life did so fast when it emerged. The 4.5 billion-year-old planet had cooled enough for the first organisms to be present, and many researchers think the first organisms were made ofRNA. It would be difficult to forge into the long strands needed to convey genetic information, which raises the question of how it could have spontaneously formed.

Researchers might have an answer. In lab experiments, they show how basaltic glasses help individualRNA letters link into strands up to 200 letters long. The glasses were abundant in the fire and brimstone of early Earth when lava was quenched in air or water or when asteroid strikes cooled off quickly.

Top origin-of-life researchers have differing opinions on the result. Thomas Carell is a chemist at Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich. Jack Szostak says he won't believe the result until the research team better characterizes the strands.

Origin-of-life researchers like a primordialRNA world because the molecule can carry out two distinct processes. Four chemical letters can carry genetic information. The chemical reactions needed for life can be done with the help ofRNA.

There are also headaches that come fromRNA. No one has found a way for hundreds ofRNA letters to link into strands long enough to support the complex chemistry needed for evolution.

Stephen Mojzsis wondered if basaltic glasses made a difference. They have a lot of metals such as magnesium and iron. He says thatBasaltic glass was all over the place.

He sent the samples to the foundation. Each sample was ground into a fine powder and mixed with a solution of triphosphates. The letters didn't link up without a glass powder present. The researchers reported this week in Astrobiology that when mixed with the glass powders, the molecule joined into long strands. There wasn't a need for heat or light. The only thing we had to do was wait. After a day, small strands ofRNA formed. The simplicity of the model is what makes it attractive. Wait for a few days and mix the ingredients.

Many questions are raised by the results. The first place where the triphosphates could have arisen is one of the reasons. Steven Benner says recent research shows how the same basaltic glasses could have promoted the formation and stabilization of the individualRNA letters.

Szostak says the shape of the longRNA strands is a bigger issue. MostRNAs grow into long linear chains in modern Cells. There are complex branching patterns that can be bound byRNA letters. The researchers are asked to report the type ofRNA that was created. The authors decided to go with the hype rather than the science after making an interesting initial finding.

The experiment produced a small amount ofRNA branching. She notes that some branchedRNAs exist in organisms today and that related structures may have been present at life's beginning. She says that other tests the group did confirm the presence of long strands with connections. Dieter Braun is an origin-of-life chemist. Next round of experiments will be triggered by it.