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Advances in the science of abiogenesis

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  • #46
    The problem of phosphorus in the abiogenesis of life may be resolved. Phosphorus is necessary for abiogenesis, but the problem was how it could naturally avaialble for the beginning of life.

    Source: https://www.pnas.org/content/early/2019/12/26/1916109117



    A carbonate-rich lake solution to the phosphate problem of the origin of life
    Jonathan D. Toner and View ORCID ProfileDavid C. Catling
    PNAS first published December 30, 2019 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1916109117

    Significance
    Phosphate is crucial for the origin of life because it is ubiquitous in key biomolecules. A major issue is that prebiotic syntheses use concentrated phosphate to incorporate phosphate into biomolecules, whereas natural waters are generally phosphate-poor because phosphate reacts with calcium to form low-solubility apatite minerals. Here we show that carbonate-rich lakes can concentrate phosphate to >1 molal levels by locking up calcium in carbonate minerals, which prevents phosphate removal by apatite precipitation. Phosphate-rich lakes may have preferentially formed on the prebiotic Earth because of carbonic acid weathering under CO2-rich atmospheres and the absence of microbial phosphate consumption. This specifically points to an origin of life in carbonate-rich lakes, and so defines aqueous conditions that prebiotic chemists should consider.

    Abstract
    Phosphate is central to the origin of life because it is a key component of nucleotides in genetic molecules, phospholipid cell membranes, and energy transfer molecules such as adenosine triphosphate. To incorporate phosphate into biomolecules, prebiotic experiments commonly use molar phosphate concentrations to overcome phosphate’s poor reactivity with organics in water. However, phosphate is generally limited to micromolar levels in the environment because it precipitates with calcium as low-solubility apatite minerals. This disparity between laboratory conditions and environmental constraints is an enigma known as “the phosphate problem.” Here we show that carbonate-rich lakes are a marked exception to phosphate-poor natural waters. In principle, modern carbonate-rich lakes could accumulate up to ∼0.1 molal phosphate under steady-state conditions of evaporation and stream inflow because calcium is sequestered into carbonate minerals. This prevents the loss of dissolved phosphate to apatite precipitation. Even higher phosphate concentrations (>1 molal) can form during evaporation in the absence of inflows. On the prebiotic Earth, carbonate-rich lakes were likely abundant and phosphate-rich relative to the present day because of the lack of microbial phosphate sinks and enhanced chemical weathering of phosphate minerals under relatively CO2-rich atmospheres. Furthermore, the prevailing CO2 conditions would have buffered phosphate-rich brines to moderate pH (pH 6.5 to 9). The accumulation of phosphate and other prebiotic reagents at concentration and pH levels relevant to experimental prebiotic syntheses of key biomolecules is a compelling reason to consider carbonate-rich lakes as plausible settings for the origin of life.

    © Copyright Original Source

    Glendower: I can call spirits from the vasty deep.
    Hotspur: Why, so can I, or so can any man;
    But will they come when you do call for them? Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Part 1, Act III:

    go with the flow the river knows . . .

    Frank

    I do not know, therefore everything is in pencil.

    Comment


    • #47
      Originally posted by shunyadragon View Post
      Back to REAL science.

      Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-02622-4



      Lab-made primordial soup yields RNA bases

      The chemical feat strengthens theory that the first life on Earth was based on RNA.


      Single strand ribonucleic acid, RNA research and therapy.
      RNA has been synthesized in conditions that may have resembled those on the early Earth.

      © Copyright Original Source

      It seems they synthesized the bases for RNA, but not RNA itself, for RNA, you need ribose. This statement claims too much, as does the claim that they can form under one set of conditions, which turns out to be two sets of conditions.

      Blessings,
      Lee
      "What I pray of you is, to keep your eye upon Him, for that is everything. Do you say, 'How am I to keep my eye on Him?' I reply, keep your eye off everything else, and you will soon see Him. All depends on the eye of faith being kept on Him. How simple it is!" (J.B. Stoney)

      Comment


      • #48
        Originally posted by lee_merrill View Post
        It seems they synthesized the bases for RNA, but not RNA itself, for RNA, you need ribose. This statement claims too much, as does the claim that they can form under one set of conditions, which turns out to be two sets of conditions.

        Blessings,
        Lee
        No, it does not claim too much it claims what it claims read again, but . . .

        Source: https://www.sciencealert.com/researchers-find-that-ribose-the-r-in-rna-may-form-naturally-in-space


        Researchers Find That Ribose, The 'R' in RNA, Could Form Naturally in Space
        JOSH HRALA8 APR 2016

        Though the quest to find water on distant planets is the most talked-about way that researchers are looking for extraterrestrial life, one of our best bets at understanding life’s complexities lies with comets, not planets.


        In fact, the icy space balls are already known to form amino acids and nucleobases, two key substances needed for life to take root. And now, researchers may have found another necessary ingredient: ribose, the 'R' in RNA.

        Before we dive into the new discovery, it’s important to understand what life, as we know it, needs to get started, and how we think it may have happened here on Earth. Life on Earth requires three macromolecules: RNA, DNA and proteins. The current understanding is that RNA, or ribonucleic acid, came before DNA on Earth.

        However, the conditions needed for ribose, a simple sugar needed for RNA, were not formed yet on Earth before life started. So, the question remained: where did ribose come from?

        To answer this, the team of researchers led by chemist Cornelia Meinert from the University Nice Sophia Antipolis in France, set out to recreate the conditions of our early Solar System to see whether or not ribose could form, Deborah Netburn reports for the Los Angeles Times.

        This process involved freezing water, ammonia, and methanol to -195 degrees Celsius, which basically created a fake comet in the lab. Then, when temperatures were right, they blasted it with ultraviolet light so that the 'comet' would experience the same type of radiation that a young star would produce. The last step was to let the comet warm back up and see what molecules were created.

        The team discovered about 55 organic molecules were present after analysis, with the most important and exciting being ribose. Though this same experiment had been done countless times across the globe in the past, this team is the first to use multidimensional gas chromatography, a new technique that makes detecting individual molecules easier.

        "Our ice simulation is a very general process that can occur in molecular clouds as well as in protoplanetary disks. It shows that the molecular building blocks of the potentially first genetic material are abundant in interstellar environments," Meinert explains.

        The discovery hints that ribose from comets or dust clouds might have fallen onto a young Earth, establishing a needed building block for life.

        But there are still a few things for researchers to figure out. For example, this study was done in a lab, which means we will need to back up the findings by discovering ribose on a real comet or in a real dust cloud. Also, the team also doesn’t know when the ribose actually formed. Was it the heating or the cooling that did the trick?

        With any luck, researchers will have these answers in the coming years, with many more missions focusing on comets coming in the near future. Despite its shortcomings, the discovery is a big step in understanding how life on Earth - and possibly elsewhere in the Universe - formed.

        The team’s study was published in Science.

        © Copyright Original Source

        Glendower: I can call spirits from the vasty deep.
        Hotspur: Why, so can I, or so can any man;
        But will they come when you do call for them? Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Part 1, Act III:

        go with the flow the river knows . . .

        Frank

        I do not know, therefore everything is in pencil.

        Comment


        • #49
          Originally posted by shunyadragon View Post
          No, it does not claim too much it claims what it claims read again...
          So where do they synthesize RNA?

          Source: https://www.sciencealert.com/researchers-find-that-ribose-the-r-in-rna-may-form-naturally-in-space


          Researchers Find That Ribose, The 'R' in RNA, Could Form Naturally in Space

          © Copyright Original Source

          But is it racemic? Probably so, and if so, puts a dent in their claim.

          Blessings,
          Lee
          "What I pray of you is, to keep your eye upon Him, for that is everything. Do you say, 'How am I to keep my eye on Him?' I reply, keep your eye off everything else, and you will soon see Him. All depends on the eye of faith being kept on Him. How simple it is!" (J.B. Stoney)

          Comment


          • #50
            Originally posted by lee_merrill View Post
            So where do they synthesize RNA?
            Where do who synthesize RNA? The goal of the research over time to determine various ways RNA can come about naturally.


            But is it racemic? Probably so, and if so, puts a dent in their claim.

            Blessings,
            Lee
            There are no dents in claims, nor claims as you interpret them. Scientific knowledge builds over time with progressive research and discoveries.
            Glendower: I can call spirits from the vasty deep.
            Hotspur: Why, so can I, or so can any man;
            But will they come when you do call for them? Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Part 1, Act III:

            go with the flow the river knows . . .

            Frank

            I do not know, therefore everything is in pencil.

            Comment


            • #51
              Originally posted by shunyadragon View Post
              Where do who synthesize RNA?
              I noted a claim that RNA had been synthesized, "RNA has been synthesized in conditions that may have resembled those on the early Earth." Only they didn't synthesize RNA, so this claim is false.

              There are no dents in claims, nor claims as you interpret them. Scientific knowledge builds over time with progressive research and discoveries.
              Well, without homochirality you don't get a biomolecule, in all probability.

              Blessings,
              Lee
              "What I pray of you is, to keep your eye upon Him, for that is everything. Do you say, 'How am I to keep my eye on Him?' I reply, keep your eye off everything else, and you will soon see Him. All depends on the eye of faith being kept on Him. How simple it is!" (J.B. Stoney)

              Comment


              • #52
                Originally posted by lee_merrill View Post
                I noted a claim that RNA had been synthesized, "RNA has been synthesized in conditions that may have resembled those on the early Earth." Only they didn't synthesize RNA, so this claim is false.
                No it is not. You lack the fundamental knowledge in the biological science to make such a statement.

                Well, without homochirality you don't get a biomolecule, in all probability.
                Probability is absolutely meaningless without a falsifiable hypothesis. Besides it is meaningless anyway, because as previously referenced it is a false method to evaluate abiogenesis and evolution, because it is based on the assumptions of a religious agenda, and not legitimate scientific evidence and methods.
                Glendower: I can call spirits from the vasty deep.
                Hotspur: Why, so can I, or so can any man;
                But will they come when you do call for them? Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Part 1, Act III:

                go with the flow the river knows . . .

                Frank

                I do not know, therefore everything is in pencil.

                Comment


                • #53
                  Originally posted by shunyadragon View Post
                  No it is not. You lack the fundamental knowledge in the biological science to make such a statement.
                  This is not complicated, they claimed to have synthesized RNA, but they only synthesized some of RNA's building blocks. Their stated next step was to synthesize ribose, another component of RNA.

                  Blessings,
                  Lee
                  "What I pray of you is, to keep your eye upon Him, for that is everything. Do you say, 'How am I to keep my eye on Him?' I reply, keep your eye off everything else, and you will soon see Him. All depends on the eye of faith being kept on Him. How simple it is!" (J.B. Stoney)

                  Comment


                  • #54
                    Originally posted by lee_merrill View Post
                    This is not complicated, they claimed to have synthesized RNA, but they only synthesized some of RNA's building blocks. Their stated next step was to synthesize ribose, another component of RNA.

                    Blessings,
                    Lee
                    You are perpetually arguing from ignorance, and often ignoring the advancements of scientific research and discoveries concerning the origins of RNA/DNA.
                    Glendower: I can call spirits from the vasty deep.
                    Hotspur: Why, so can I, or so can any man;
                    But will they come when you do call for them? Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Part 1, Act III:

                    go with the flow the river knows . . .

                    Frank

                    I do not know, therefore everything is in pencil.

                    Comment

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