Since the building blocks of the cells of all living things known to us are proteins and which play a very central role in the existence of all biological systems (and above all because of the central role of proteins in the replication mechanism of living cells) it is also assumed that the first cell was built of protein, but the question arises where did proteins come from to the oceans 3.6 billion years ago and how did they exist in the ocean's salty waters?
By: Igor Dorfman
About 3.6 billion years ago, at a time when Earth "cooled down" from the boiling temperatures that prevailed in it earlier, following its formation from the boiling cloud of gases that would become the solar system, and the existence of water in its liquid form became possible, the first living cell began to develop from which all living things would develop My face is like that.
The accepted hypothesis holds that the first living cell, called the aerotic cell, developed in the ancient ocean, also called the "primordial soup".
Since the building blocks of the cells of all living things known to us are proteins and which play a very central role in the existence of all biological systems (and above all because of the central role of proteins in the replication mechanism of living cells) it is also assumed that the first cell was built of protein, but the question arises where did proteins come from to the oceans 3.6 billion years ago and how did they exist in the ocean's salty waters?!
First, it should be noted that the building blocks of protein are amino acids (there are 20 such acids) and scientists believe that they were the ones that appeared in the ancient ocean waters and not the proteins themselves, but the question still remains, where did they come from?
At first it was believed that the amino acids arrived on meteorites or asteroids, but this version does not seem particularly plausible in light of the fact that when they passed over the meteorites through the atmosphere of the Earth, they were exposed to very high temperatures that would have caused their destruction. Hence, the source of the acids is on the surface of the earth, but where and how?
Before discussing this question, it should be noted that the atmosphere of the young Earth was completely different from today's atmosphere (nitrogen and oxygen, which today make up over 99% of the gases in the atmosphere, did not exist in the primordial atmosphere at all) the gases that made up the atmosphere then were: ammonia, methane, hydrogen and mainly carbon dioxide. In an experiment conducted by the American scientists Urey and Miller from the University of Chicago in 1955, they created an environment based on the model of the ancient atmosphere and sent electric shocks into it that tried to simulate lightning. Much to their surprise, within a short time amino acids (of different types) began to be formed in impressive quantities.
This is the place to point out that the derivation H2N is the building block of the amino acids and appears in all of them, if we look at the chemical composition of the gases that made up the primordial atmosphere we see that they are: C2H4 (ammonia), H3N (methane), H (hydrogen) and CO2 (carbon d- oxygenated). From the above composition it can be seen that if an electric shock did hit this mixture of gases as in the experiment of Miller and Uray and created a chemical compound from them, then it is enough for a single hydrogen atom to detach from the methane molecule in order for us to obtain the structure necessary for the existence of an amino acid (H2N) and various variations of the above-mentioned compound We can get different amino acids (that is, in the gas mixture of the primordial atmosphere there were all the building blocks needed to create amino acids).
If the description of the above experiment and its conclusions can satisfactorily describe how the amino acids were formed, then the question still arises as to how they passed two additional obstacles that the hostile primordial environment placed before them, namely - the salty water of the oceans and the ultraviolet radiation.
It is known that a high concentration of salts will destroy protein molecules, and the question arises as to how the amino acids survived in the ocean waters. There are two main hypotheses for this: the first claims that the amino acids that survived existed in fresh water such as lakes and thus the problem of salinity is completely solved, and the second claim claims that fatty molecules (phospholipids) that were present in the Genesis soup reacted with salt water to create fatty membranes (lapoids) that protected the surface The amino acids from the salt. In my opinion, the second hypothesis is more reasonable because the percentage of fresh water in the ancient Exodus was completely negligible compared to the percentage of salt water and also because the second hypothesis reasonably solves the problem of ultraviolet radiation as we will see later.
We will now move on to the second problem that threatened the existence of the amino acids and that is the ultraviolet radiation which was much stronger in the ancient Earth than today because there was no ozone layer which is a chemical product of oxygen (O3) which, as mentioned before, was not present in the ancient atmosphere. There are also two hypotheses for a possible solution to this problem: one claims that the amino acids developed in the depths of the oceans where radiation is very low (but this is where the salinity problem comes up again) and the other claims that on days when the sun was hidden by clouds and there was no radiation, the amino acids had time to connect to proteins, a hypothesis This is based, among other things, on an experiment from 1971 conducted at the University of Birmingham in which it was discovered that a high concentration of amino acids can connect to proteins within hours to two weeks, from this experiment it can be concluded that within a relatively short time of suitable atmospheric conditions (lightning and no exposure to the sun) they could form Enormous amounts of amino acids, a significant part of which, most likely connected to proteins.
There is probably some truth in both hypotheses (if, of course, we accept the theory regarding the existence of the fatty membranes that protected the amino acids from their environment, the first hypothesis is an elegant solution to the radiation problem), moreover, in experiments in the 70s it was discovered that under certain conditions as a result From a chemical reaction of the water molecule (H2O) to exposure to high-intensity ultraviolet radiation, amino acids can be formed, so it is not entirely clear whether the ultraviolet radiation was disruptive in the process of amino acid formation, but the popular opinion is that the ultraviolet radiation harmed the process more than it helped it.
Well, we saw that proteins, most likely, could have been formed in the Genesis soup. Now it remains to be seen how these proteins became living cells.
The most ancient living organisms whose fossils have been found are blue and green algae (primitive single-celled organisms that are the ancestors of all plants) and some single-celled bacteria. The first cells were much different from the cells of most of the complex cells that exist today (and also of the primitive cells that exist today) and the main characteristic of those cells, following which the cells can be defined as living, is culture.
The proteins formed in the Genesis soup probably created a complex molecule of proteins that had the ability to replicate, which was a kind of primitive DNA molecule. The fatty membrane that contained these molecules within it was the membrane of the first living cell. The first DNA molecule was not wrapped in a nucleus but probably had free movement within the cavity of the membrane in a manner similar to plasmids (strands of DNA) that can still be seen today in unicellular organisms. Because of the extreme conditions that prevailed in the ancient atmosphere, that molecule underwent many changes fairly frequently until it evolved into a form reminiscent of the "modern" DNA molecule.
Apparently, after a certain period of time, a molecule similar to the chlorophyll molecule that is found in green plants today developed, which allows plants to carry out photosynthesis, the product of which emits oxygen.
With the evolutionary development of the single-celled creatures into more complex living creatures and with the constant increase in the percentage of oxygen in the atmosphere as a result of the photosynthesis of the green and blue algae (and of plants that appeared on land, as a result of the dispersal of seeds in the areas near the coasts, about a billion years ago) the spread of life to the land became possible before About 450 million years.
From then on, evolution progressed at a very fast pace when the control over the land belonged to the reptiles (whose first ancestors appeared about 380 million years ago after evolving from primitive amphibians that had existed until then) which peaked about 200 million years ago during the dinosaur era.
About 65 million years ago, all the dinosaurs suddenly and very quickly became extinct (probably as a result of a giant meteorite hitting the Earth) and thus enabled the rise of warm-blooded animals (the birds and mammals that until the extinction of the dinosaurs numbered a few single species of tiny, sharp-edged creatures) that maintain dominance in the living world to this day.
* Editor's note, however, if the asteroids or comets happen to land at a low angle and at low speed, the materials in them do not disintegrate.
More of the topic in Hayadan:
6 תגובות
Thank you. Amazing and very interesting! How many are your works, O Lord!
To David - it is clear that the reference is to 3.6 billion and not 6.3 as appears in the subtitle.
The world is 4,6 billion years old, how did you get to 6.3 billion? Everyone thinks they invented the wheel with delusional theories.
With all due respect to scientists, the world and life are so complex that it is hard for me to believe that all of this was created by chance. There must be a creator of the world.
In such time spans and especially if it is about 6.3 billion years (a date I previously looked for the connection to), it is actually about the primordial swamp!! in the sea.. which later became the Dead Sea or the Dead Sea.
It all started in this primordial sea and in fact the primordial egg. BOOM!!
As bizarre as it sounds, remember that I said this publicly and publicly!!!
Yehuda?? Write it down in the documentation. Or engrave it in your memory, that's what I was talking about!!!
And to my people?? Be what you be, thank you.
Hugin. (in the name of the memory treasurer).
Since the interesting article is based on hypotheses, there is perhaps reason to assume that the many waters that covered large areas already after "Genesis" were not salty at all in the beginning - (which the article deals with), and became saltier over the years.
It can also be assumed that in extremely cold and very ancient times, huge glaciers formed too easily, due to the sweetness of the water.