Close X
Saturday, November 30, 2024
ADVT 
Health

Can you believe it? Metabolism existed even before origin of life, reveales study

Darpan News Desk IANS, 25 Apr, 2014 11:34 AM
  • Can you believe it? Metabolism existed even before origin of life, reveales study
The mystery behind how the first organisms on earth could have become metabolically active has been unlocked.
 
Researchers from University of Cambridge have reconstructed ancient ocean to speculate how primitive cells learned to synthesise their organic components - the molecules that form RNA, lipids and amino acids. 
 
Almost four billion years ago, life on earth began in iron-rich oceans that dominated the surface of the planet. 
 
“The conditions and molecules found in the earth's ancient oceans assisted and accelerated the interconversion of metabolites that in modern organisms make up glycolysis and the pentose-phosphate pathways - two of the essential and most centrally placed reaction cascades of metabolism,” explained Markus Ralser from department of biochemistry at University of Cambridge.
 
A reconstruction of earth's earliest ocean in the lab revealed the spontaneous occurrence of the chemical reactions used by modern cells to synthesise many of the crucial organic molecules of metabolism. 
 
Previously, it was assumed that these reactions were carried out in modern cells by metabolic enzymes.
 
“Finding a series of reactions that resembles the `core of cellular metabolism' suggests that metabolism predates the origin of life,” Ralser noted.
 
This implies that, at least initially, metabolism may not have been shaped by evolution but by molecules like RNA formed through the chemical conditions that prevailed in the earliest oceans.
 
According to Ralser, “In the reconstructed version of the ancient Archean ocean, these metabolic reactions were particularly sensitive to the presence of ferrous iron that helped catalyse many of the chemical reactions that we observed”. 
 
The study was published in the journal Molecular Systems Biology.

MORE Health ARTICLES

Revealed: How Chinese have faster eye movement

Revealed: How Chinese have faster eye movement
Ever wondered how quickly Chinese people move their eyes? It has nothing to do with the neurological behaviour or culture in people of Chinese origin.

Revealed: How Chinese have faster eye movement

Decoded: How You Decide Who Is More Popular

Decoded: How You Decide Who Is More Popular
Your brain knows for sure who attracts more eyeballs in your own circle as a new research has found how our brains recognise popular people. People track popularity largely through the brain region involved in anticipating rewards.

Decoded: How You Decide Who Is More Popular

How watching movies synchronises viewers' brains

How watching movies synchronises viewers' brains
Do you know that while watching a movie, your brain reacts to it immediately in a way similar to other people's brains? Researchers have succeeded in developing a method fast enough to observe immediate changes in the function of the brain even when watching a movie. 

How watching movies synchronises viewers' brains

Twitter, Facebook driving couples to break relationships!

Twitter, Facebook driving couples to break relationships!
Arguments over social media platforms among romantic partners are damaging relationships, ending in negative outcomes like emotional and physical cheating, breakup and divorce, a significant research reveals.

Twitter, Facebook driving couples to break relationships!

Have green tea to boost working memory

Have green tea to boost working memory
 Have another cup of green tea after reading this, especially if you are in office. Researchers at University of Basel in Switzerland have found that green tea extract enhances the cognitive functions - in particular the working memory.

Have green tea to boost working memory

First Mars settlers to devour grasshoppers?

First Mars settlers to devour grasshoppers?
Even as scientists explore possibilities of human settlement on the red planet, speculations are now on as to what could be the diet of the first human settlers in Mars.

First Mars settlers to devour grasshoppers?