A new study sheds light on specific regions exhibited by the Earth’s single-celled ancestors

Scientists have long been thinking about the possible traits of our single-celled ancestors, and the order in which these traits came into being. Bubble-like rations are a sign of the true sovereignty to which we, and many other species, including yeast, belong.

But there are a number of specific molecules in the cells in today’s supernatant that help form and shape these bubbles within our cells. Scientists were wondering what came first: the bubbles or the shaped molecules?

New research by Karolina Spustova, a graduate student, and colleagues in the Irep Gözen laboratory at the University of Oslo, shows that, with just a few key pieces, these tiny bubbles can form on their own, including molecules, and separating without assistance. Spustova will present her research, published in January, on Wednesday, February 24 at the 65th Annual Meeting of the Biophysical Society.

3.8 billion years ago is about when our single-celled ancestors came a long time ago. It would have preceded not only the complex organisms in our sovereignty, but also the more basic bacteria. Whether this “protocell” had bubble-like regions remains a mystery.

For a long time, scientists thought that these lipid bubbles were something that put our hand above other organisms, such as bacteria. Because of this, scientists thought that these fragments may have been formed after the presence of bacteria. But recent research has shown that bacteria also have specific divisions, which led Gözen’s research team to wonder – could the protocell that came before bacteria and our ancestors have them? And if so, how would they have been created?

The research team synthesized a combination of the lipids that make up today’s cellular segments, called phospholipids, with water and applied the mixture to a mineral-like surface. They found that large bubbles were formed on their own, and within these bubbles, there were smaller ones. To determine whether these segments could contain small molecules, as they had to be done to have specific functions, the team added fluorescent colors. They saw that these bubbles were able to go up and hold on to the colors.

They also saw situations where the bubbles burst, leaving smaller “girl” bubbles, which is something like a simple division of the first cells. All of this happened without any molecular devices, like the ones we have in our cells, and without extra energy. The idea that this could have happened on Earth 3.8 billion years ago is not unbelievable. “

Irep Gözen, Norwegian Center for Molecular Medicine, University of Oslo

Gözen explained that water would have been abundant, as well as “silica and aluminum, which we used in our study, are present in natural rocks.”

Research shows that the phospholipid molecules may have been synthesized under early Earth position or reached by Earth with meteorites. Gözen says, “it is believed that these molecules reached sufficient densities to form phospholipid concentrations.” Thus, it is possible that all that was required for the segments was similar. to form bubbles without spors.