U de S scientists solve age-old mystery on origins of life
Ateam of research scientists at Université de Sherbrooke have shed some light on one of the great mysteries in our understanding of the origins of life on earth.
One of the most widespread assumptions in science is that the chemical ingredients necessary for the emergence of life were brought to Earth by extraterrestrial objects such as asteroids or comets. The question has always been how these elements could be created in an icy environment as hostile as outer space. A research team from the Université de Sherbrooke shed some light on the issue by demonstrating that slowmoving, low-energy electrons that are produced in large numbers by cosmic radiation, can create molecules that promote the appearance of life, or prebiotic molecules.
This discovery is the result of the work of Dr. Léon Sanche, professor-researcher at U de S and the Research Center of the CIUSSS de l’estrie-chus. By recreating conditions in the laboratory similar to those that would probably be observed as life emerged, Sanche and his team published a study that demonstrates that it is possible to create small organic molecules in an icy environment irradiated by slow electrons in the November 2017 issue of the Journal of Chemical Physics. They found that a variety of small organic molecules such as propylene, ethane and acetylene can be produced from frozen methane.
In 2018, the team published in the same journal the results of irradiation by these electrons of a frozen mixture of molecules found in space: methane, ammonia and carbon dioxide. They found direct evidence that the amino acid glycine, a molecule fundamental to protein structure, was formed.
"We’ve been able to find molecules, such as amino acids, which are fundamental bases of proteins," Sanche explained. “We’re beginning to understand the mechanism; the molecules can be made just about anywhere in the universe. They didn’t necessarily come from the Earth. And that was it, I think, that got the attention of the media. Our main ingredients might have come from anywhere and that could have been far from here.”