Water droplets hold the secret ingredient related to the origin of life
It allows elementary molecules to form the building blocks for the existence of living forms
Water droplets form the framework in which chemical processes are considered among the basic requirements for life on our planet (Getty Images)
Scientists believe that they have discovered a basic chemical process that contributed to the start of life on our planet , noting that it all takes place inside water droplets.
It has long been assumed that life first arose in the ocean, but it was not known how 'primitive molecules' brought to Earth by asteroids in the form of oleic amino acids [essential proteins involved in the synthesis of genes] could have undergone the complex reactions needed to form proteins.
In general, life is seen as dependent on the formation of proteins [including those that make up genes and their structures and molecules], but the exact way in which these molecules were first formed in abundance remains a mystery unsolved by chemists.
This is due to the fact that water is a necessary condition for the occurrence of a chemical reaction that leads to the formation of basic proteins of the "peptide" type, which works to synthesize the amino acid chains necessary for the formation of proteins [including those that enter into the formation of genes], and then living organisms. In turn, this reaction also requires the loss of a water molecule, something that scientists previously thought would be difficult to achieve in a world largely covered by the seas.
But now, this mystery has been addressed for the first time in a research led by American scientists, who see that the places where "water is not just moisture", according to their description, are the ones that witnessed this interaction. This means that the places where liquid water meets the atmosphere, such as water droplets in the form of mist from ocean waters, provide ideal conditions for the occurrence of these biochemical reactions.
"This is basically the chemistry behind the origin of life," said Graham Cox, of Purdue University in Indiana, in the US. Cox described the aforementioned research as "the first evidence that droplets of pure water host primary molecules, i.e. simple [protein] amino acids, spontaneously forming structures called 'peptides' which are the building blocks of life. It is an amazing discovery." "Water is not just moisture all over," Dr. Cox explains.
On the fringes of our aquatic world, where water droplets meet the atmosphere, “reactions can happen incredibly fast,” according to the team of researchers, turning amino protein acids into the basic components of life [ie, genes].
"Where sea spray is flying in the air and waves hitting the ground, or where fresh water flows down a slope, these are fertile natural spaces for the potential emergence of life," Cox explained.
The team at Purdue University spent more than 10 years using mass spectrometers [an analytical technique that determines the masses of the elements that make up a substance or molecule and is also used to clarify the chemical structures of molecules such as peptides and others], to study chemical reactions in droplets containing on the water.
In fact, “reaction rates in droplets are between 100 and a million times faster than the same chemicals reacting in a liquid mass,” says Dr. Cox.
According to scientists, their discovery will also lead to the faster development of drugs to treat the most debilitating diseases that destroy human health.
Dr. Cox points out the painstaking effort of the scientists, "Walk on an academic campus at night, and you'll see buildings lit up. There, industrial chemists work. Their experiments are so slow that they last for days or weeks at a time. It doesn't matter. Using chemistry With the drops, we created a device now used at Purdue University to speed up the manufacture of new chemicals and potential drugs.”
In this regard, the same team of researchers indicated that their findings will also help provide information to scientists who are looking for whether life could form on other planets and moons .
The research was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Source: websites