Researchers at the Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (HHU) have reconstructed the metabolism of the last universal common ancestor, LUCA. They found that almost all chemical steps used by primordial life to piece together the molecular building blocks of cells are energy releasing reactions. This identified the long-sought source of energy needed to drive these reactions forward, which has been hiding in plain sight. The energy required to synthesize the building blocks of life comes from within metabolism itself, as long as one essential starting compound is included. The secret ingredient that releases the energy from within at life’s origin is the cleanest, greenest, newest and oldest of all energy carriers: Hydrogen gas, H2. …
Jessica Wimmer adds: “Regarding energy at life’s origin, we can say that pure chemical energy is sufficient. We need no sunlight, no meteorites, no UV light: just H2 and CO2, plus some ammonia and salts. Because of the extremely conserved nature of the chemical reactions in our biosynthetic network, we can obtain some interesting insights into the reactions that gave rise to LUCA, even though it lived four billion years ago.”
Heinrich-Heine University Duesseldorf, “Life arose on hydrogen energy, researchers suggest” at ScienceDaily (December 13, 2021)
So life isn’t coming into existence all the time from nothing now because … ?
The paper is open access.