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This time exposure photo provided by the Santa Barbara County Fire Department shows a series of lightning strikes over Santa Barbara, Calif., seen from Stearns Wharf in the city s harbor, Tuesday evening, March 5, 2019. A(Mike Eliason/Santa Barbara County Fire Department via AP)
AFP Lightning strikes may have supplied primordial Earth with enough phosphorus to support the emergence of life, according to new research Tuesday that offered an alternative explanation as to how living organisms were born.
Phosphorus is a vital building block of life as we know it, forming basic cell structures and the double helix shape of DNA and RNA.
The origin of life on Earth is one of the most complex puzzles facing scientists. It involves not only identifying the numerous chemical reactions that must take place to create a replicating organism, but also finding realistic sources for the ingredients needed for each of the reactions.
One particular problem that has long faced scientists who study the origin of life is the source of the elusive element, phosphorus. Phosphorus is an important element for basic cell structures and functions. For example, it forms the backbone of the double helix structure of DNA and the related molecule RNA.
Though the element was widespread, almost all phosphorus on the early Earth – around 4 billion years ago – was trapped in minerals that were essentially insoluble and unreactive. This means the phosphorus, while present in principle, was not available to make the compounds needed for life.
Did lightning spark life on Earth?
Scientists say bolts could have unlocked a key ingredient for life.
Artists rendition of lightning strikes. Credit: Lucy Entwisle.
A quintillion lightning strikes over a billion years may have helped kickstart life on Earth, according to scientists from Yale University, US, and the University of Leeds, UK.
The earliest undisputed signs of life show up around 3.5 billion years ago, although researchers have good reason to suspect that the whole affair of living could have got going much earlier. But there’s a small problem: life didn’t have the right ingredients yet.
The organic molecules that make up the building blocks of life – including sugars, enzymes, protein and DNA – didn’t exist naturally on the very early Earth, and the elements needed to make them (like carbon, nitrogen, hydrogen and oxygen) were bound up in the rocks, atmosphere and early oceans.
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Sputnik International
Researchers believe lightning could have literally sparked life on Earth
Shane McGlaun - Mar 17, 2021, 8:08am CDT
A new study conducted by researchers at Yale and the University of Leeds suggests that lightning could have unlocked the phosphorus necessary for creating biomolecules that eventually led to life on Earth. The lead author of the paper, Benjamin Hess, says that the team’s work helps understand how life could’ve formed on Earth and how it might form on other planets similar to Earth.
Hess’ team believes that the whole process starts with phosphorus. Researchers say phosphorus is a crucial ingredient necessary for the formation of life, but billions of years ago, it wasn’t easily accessible on Earth. Phosphorus is typically locked inside insoluble minerals on the Earth’s surface.