Life is complicated. What is true for our everyday existence also holds for the many complex processes that take place inside cells. Proteins constantly have to be synthesized, cell walls […]
biophysics
Posted inBiochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biophysics, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Origin & Evolution of Life, Press Release
Model Suggests How Ancient RNA May Have Gained Self-Cutting Ability Essential for Life
Scientists have long pondered the beginnings of life on Earth. One theory is that RNA, which is ubiquitous across all domains of life, played a central role in early life. […]
Posted inBiochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biophysics, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Status Report
The Minimum Energy Required To Build A Cell
Understanding the energy requirements for cell synthesis accurately and comprehensively has been a longstanding challenge. We introduce a computational model that estimates the minimum energy necessary to build any cell […]
Posted inBiophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Extremeophiles and Extreme Environments, Microbiology & Virology, Origin & Evolution of Life, Press Release
Did The First Cells Evolve In Soda Lakes?
Soda lakes, which are dominated by dissolved sodium and carbonate species, could have provided the right conditions for the first cells, according to a study.
Posted inBiochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biophysics, Nanotechnology & SynBio, Origin & Evolution of Life, Press Release
Self-emergence Of Stational Periodic Arrangement Of Dual Microdroplets Through Quasi One-dimensional Confinement
Polymer systems composed of multiple components can spontaneously induce emulsion or microdroplets by mechanical mixing, as an intermediate state of macroscopic phase separation.
Posted inBiochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Origin & Evolution of Life, Press Release
Scripps Research Scientists Reveal How The First Cells Could Have Formed On Earth
Roughly 4 billion years ago, Earth was developing conditions suitable for life. Origin-of-life scientists often wonder if the type of chemistry found on the early Earth was similar to what […]
![A) Alanine synthesis using a Strecker mechanism, where the wiggly bonds indicate indeterminate stereochemistry. (B) Illustrating a calcium-promoted step on the reaction pathway where a PNC effect from Ca2+ could influence chiral preference at the Cα carbon (highlighted by circling in dashed blue). (C) An example of an Ala-bound calcium complex in a metal-mediated autocatalytic pathway, where L and L′ could be water, a bifurcating carboxylate from another amino acid [5], or other ligands. -- Life](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Influence-of-the.png?resize=1200%2C900&ssl=1)
Posted inAstrochemistry, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biophysics, Origin & Evolution of Life, Status Report
Influence of the Weak Nuclear Force on Metal-Promoted Autocatalytic Strecker Synthesis of Amino Acids: Formation of a Chiral Pool of Precursors for Prebiotic Peptide and Protein Synthesis
Natural chiral amino acids typically adopt an L structural configuration. While a preference for specific molecular chiralities is observed throughout biology and cellular chemistry, the origins of this preference are […]
Posted inBiochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biophysics, Nanotechnology & SynBio, Origin & Evolution of Life, Status Report
How Do Particles With Complex Interactions Self-assemble?
In living cells, proteins self-assemble into large functional structures based on specific interactions between molecularly complex patches.
Posted inBiochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Microbiology & Virology, Origin & Evolution of Life, Press Release
Molecular Cooperation At The Threshold Of Life’s Emergence On Earth
How organisms develop from inanimate matter is one of the biggest questions in science. Although many possible explanations have been proposed, there are no definitive answers. That’s no surprise: these […]
Posted inBiochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biophysics, Magnetic Fields, Electromagnetism, bioelectricity,, Press Release
Electricity Driving Life
When nature performs chemical reactions to create energy-rich compounds from simple molecules, it requires energy. So far, it has not been possible to use man-made electricity to drive these biochemical […]