Innovative laboratory ready to unravel the mysteries of the origins of life

McMaster researchers have developed a unique technology that could, for the first time, provide experimental evidence of the formation of life on the primitive Earth and show if life could have emerged elsewhere in the world. universe.

McMaster's new Origins of Life lab, equipped with a planet simulator, an extremely sophisticated climate chamber, unique in the world, allows researchers to mimic the environmental conditions present on the primitive Earth or on planets similar to Earth. how the building blocks of life were assembled and how these prebiotic molecules were transformed into self-replicating RNA molecules, the first genetic material found in all of life today.

"We want to understand how the first living cell was formed – how the Earth has moved from a chemical world to a biological world," says Maikel Rheinstadter, biophysicist and associate professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy. McMaster, who designed the lab in collaboration with biochemist Yingfu Li and astrophysicist Ralph Pudritz.

"Currently, there is no satisfactory explanation of what could have happened or how life could form on other planets," continues Rheinstadter. "Solving this mystery is the reason for being from this lab."

Many scientists believe that life on Earth began 3.5 billion to 4.5 years ago in what Charles Darwin called "small hot ponds – hydrothermal vents found in volcanic environments in which nucleotides, biomolecules essential to the emergence of life, mixed with amino acids, lipid molecules, clays and rocks, and inorganic salts contained in ponds.

According to a comprehensive research published last year by Pudritz and Ben K. Pearce – both of McMaster's Department of Physics and Astronomy – RNA polymer chains were created when nucleotides, trained to from nucleobases delivered by meteorites in these ponds, have been linked to each other. wet and dry cycles of precipitation, evaporation and drainage.

They argue that it is these wet and dry cycles, created by the environmental conditions present on the primitive Earth, that triggered the chemical processes necessary for RNA polymers to replicate and begin to transmit genetic information. one generation to the next.

It's a theory that Pudritz, Rheinstadter and Li, all members of the McMaster Origins Institute, will be testing out using the Planet Simulator and other equipment from the Origins of Life Lab.

"This lab was designed to analyze the conditions on a wide variety of habitable planets, including the conditions we imagine to be present on the early Earth," says Pudritz. "It can simulate the small hot pond, the geophysical environment, the atmosphere, the irradiation, the wet and dry cycles, all this is part of it. It is in these conditions that the first life was formed and that's how we think chemistry was really motivated. "

To test their hypothesis, the researchers will create solutions of the molecules found in these ponds, then dry the mixture on silicon wafers. The samples will then be placed in the simulator chamber of the planetary simulator and exposed to day-night-night and seasonal cycles as well as to humidity, extreme temperatures, oxidizing environments, high radiation levels, and high temperatures. Other conditions present on the premises. the primitive Earth.

In the chamber, researchers will be able to simulate in a few days several years of these cycles to study the formation of RNA sequences and determine if any of these RNA molecules has a genetic function and also plays the role of enzymes – the catalyst needed for self-replication.

"In the beginning, when life was born, there was a stage in the ponds where some of these RNA molecules started to act as enzymes, which allowed them to copy themselves, to copy the genetic material of other molecules and to catalyze other important reactions for life, "says Yingfu Li, a professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences at McMaster and a specialist in the catalytic functions of genetic materials.

"We do not know how these molecules were generated, so this configuration, along with all the other lab analysis equipment, will allow us to test the chemical processes that may have given rise to these magical molecules and to see how can these molecules come together to create cells, "Li says.

Ultimately, Li, Rheinstadter and Pudritz say they intend to take what they learn about the origins of life on Earth and, using the Origins of Life laboratory, mimic the conditions found on others. habitable planets, to understand how life could be formed elsewhere in our planet. System and beyond.

"I think the big question is, are we alone?" said Pudritz. "If we can understand how life is formed on Earth, we may be able to find RNA sequences that are able to take off in different planetary environments." If that lab has the capabilities we think we have, we should be able to find other conditions in which we can test these sequences and ask, "Does it work, and if the answer is yes, then we are really on the road."

Supplied by McMaster University

This Phys.org Science News Wire page contains a press release issued by one of the above organizations and is provided to you "as is" with little or no notice from Phys.Org staff.