Scientists Uncover Potential Origins of Life in Ancient Hot Springs

Research Reveals How Organic Molecules Forming Cell Membranes Could Have Emerged From Inert Geological Materials

Scientists at Newcastle University have discovered a plausible genesis for the organic molecules that form cell membranes, which were possibly selectively chosen by early biochemical processes on the ancient Earth.
The team replicated the chemical environment found in early Earth's oceans and the mixing of the hot alkaline water from around certain types of hydrothermal vents in their laboratory.
When hot hydrogen-rich fluids were mixed with carbon dioxide-rich water in the presence of iron-based minerals that were present on the early Earth, it created the types of molecules needed to form primitive cell membranes.
The results suggest that the convergence of hydrogen-rich fluids from alkaline hydrothermal vents with bicarbonate-rich waters on iron-based minerals could have precipitated the rudimentary membranes of early cells at the very beginning of life.
Research now continues on determining the second key step; how these organic molecules which are initially 'stuck' to the mineral surfaces can lift off to form spherical membrane-bounded cell-like compartments; the first potential 'protocells' that went on to form the first cellular life.