US EditionSimple chemistry helps explain the origin of life, new study suggests
- On August 27, 2025, University College London chemists led by Dr. Jyoti Singh demonstrated in a Nature paper how amino acids and RNA could spontaneously link under early Earth-like conditions in water at neutral pH.
- This experiment builds on decades of research attempting to explain the origin of protein synthesis by bridging the RNA world and thioester world theories, which propose complementary roles for self-replicating RNA and energy from thioesters.
- The reaction used amino acids attached to thioesters, compounds derived from coenzyme A found in all living cells, and suggests such chemistry could have occurred naturally in nutrient-rich pools or lakes on early Earth rather than in oceans.
- Professor Matthew Powner explained that their research connects two key hypotheses about how life began—the 'RNA world' and the 'thioester world' theories—while lead author Dr. Singh described their findings as a significant advancement in understanding how peptides could be formed from RNA and amino acids, shedding light on the origins of life.
- This discovery implies a plausible chemical pathway for the emergence of protein synthesis, a vital component of life, but researchers acknowledge numerous challenges remain in fully elucidating life’s origin.
17 Articles
17 Articles
Scientists recreate life’s first step: Linking amino acids to RNA
Researchers demonstrated how amino acids could spontaneously attach to RNA under early Earth-like conditions using thioesters, providing a long-sought clue to the origins of protein synthesis. This finding bridges the “RNA world” and “thioester world” theories and suggests how life’s earliest peptides may have formed.
Experiment sheds light on the origin of life, supporting the existence of a ‘thioester world’ before living beings
As his first name suggests, the Belgian biochemist Christian de Duve was raised in a Catholic family, baptized, educated by Jesuits, and married in the Church. However, he gradually lost his faith through a rational process that culminated in 1974, when he won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discovering lysosomes — organelles with digestive functions inside cells. Seguir leyendo
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