Innovations in Biotechnology and Medical Sciences

How Heat led to Protocells formation on Earth?

Why in the News?

A new Nature Physics study suggests that warm volcanic rock surfaces may have concentrated organic molecules in watery cracks, triggering life-like chemistry—offering a clue to how protocells formed without membranes before life began.

What are Protocells?

  • Overview: Protocells are primitive, cell-like bubbles believed to be early precursors of real biological cells. They were not fully alive but provided a space for early chemical interactions.
  • Lack of Complexity: These structures lacked complex parts like organelles or DNA systems but could hold important molecules like RNA and amino acids together.
  • Membrane Role: Protocells often formed simple membranes or boundaries, which allowed molecules to stay enclosed and interact more easily—helping early reactions like protein synthesis happen.
  • Importance: Although not living, they offered a model of how basic chemistry could evolve into biology, bridging the gap between non-living and living systems.

History of Formation of Protocells:

  • Early Earth Conditions: Over 3.5 billion years ago, Earth’s surface had warm water pools and volcanic cracks filled with organic molecules made by natural processes like lightning.
  • Compartmentalization: The first step toward life was concentrating useful molecules in one place, so they could start reacting—this led to the idea of bubble-like protocells.
  • Old Theories: In the 1920s, Oparin and Haldane proposed that life began in a “primordial soup” with spontaneous chemical reactions in early Earth’s oceans.
  • Modern Insights: Newer research suggests cracks in volcanic rock or hydrothermal vents created temperature gradients and water flows that helped form protocells—no complex membranes were needed.

Key Findings in the 2025 Study:

  • Lab Setup: Scientists created a 170-micrometre chamber with a warm top (40°C) and cool bottom (27°C), simulating early Earth rock cracks.
  • DNA Test: They added DNA and a protein-making kit (PURExpress). Only in the warm-cool chamber did the DNA make green fluorescent protein (GFP), showing real protein synthesis.
  • Molecule Gathering: Essential items like DNA, magnesium, and phosphate ions gathered more at the bottom—up to 70 times more concentrated than at the top.
  • Cell-Like Behavior: Even without a membrane, the system kept useful molecules inside while letting waste escape, mimicking real cell selectivity.
  • Big Implication: This experiment supports the idea that life could start in simple natural environments using just heat, flow, and basic chemicals—long before full cells appeared.
[UPSC 2018] Consider the following statements:

1. The Earth’s magnetic field has reversed every few hundred thousand years.

2. When the Earth was created more than 4000 million years ago, there was 54% oxygen and no carbon dioxide.

3. When living organisms originated, they modified the early atmosphere of the Earth. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

Options: (a) 1 only (b) 2 and 3 only (c) 1 and 3 only * (d) 1, 2 and 3

 

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