The origins of abiotic species

[EdEarl]

phys.org

 

How can life originate from a lifeless chemical soup? This question has puzzled scientists since Darwin's 'Origin of species'. University of Groningen chemistry professor Sijbren Otto studies 'chemical evolution' to see if self-organization and autocatalysis will provide the answer. His research group previously developed self-replicating molecules—molecules that can make copies of themselves—and have now observed diversification in replicator mutants. They found that if you start with one ancestral set of replicator mutants, a second set will branch off spontaneously. This means that ecological diversity as encountered in biology may well have its roots at the molecular level. The results were published on Jan. 4, 2016, in Nature Chemistry.

Abiotic species that feed and replicate and sometimes create another abiotic species might evolve into biologic species, but its not likely to occur in my lifetime. This satisfies my curiosity about the genesis of life and more or less corresponds to my expectations. I hope someone else successfully does this experiment.

[PeterOtt]

This sounds interesting! Something new to hear.

[Ophiolite]

Jan W. Sadownik, Elio Mattia, Piotr Nowak & Sijbren Otto "Diversification of self-replicating molecules" Nature Chemistry 8, 264–269

(2016)

doi:10.1038/nchem.2419

 

Abstract:

How new species emerge in nature is still incompletely understood and difficult to study directly. Self-replicating molecules provide a simple model that allows us to capture the fundamental processes that occur in species formation. We have been able to monitor in real time and at a molecular level the diversification of self-replicating molecules into two distinct sets that compete for two different building blocks (‘food’) and so capture an important aspect of the process by which species may arise. The results show that the second replicator set is a descendant of the first and that both sets are kinetic products that oppose the thermodynamic preference of the system. The sets occupy related but complementary food niches. As diversification into sets takes place on the timescale of weeks and can be investigated at the molecular level, this work opens up new opportunities for experimentally investigating the process through which species arise both in real time and with enhanced detail.

 

Link here

[michel123456]

that oppose the thermodynamic preference of the system.

 

??

In chemistry?

Edited February 22, 2016 by michel123456

[EdEarl]

??

In chemistry?

There must be a process starting with chemistry to make biology. These researchers may have been looking at replicas of our ancestors, but my guess is there are many similar processes and we aren't related to them.

[michel123456]

I was impressed by the statement that a chemical process can "oppose the thermodynamic preference of the system."