DNA FROM THE SPACE

Monday, 29 January, 2001, 22:11 GMT
'Cells' hint at life's origin
By BBC News Online science editor Dr David Whitehouse
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_1142000/1142840.stm


Scientists have managed to create "primitive cells" in an experiment
which
may indicate that life began in space and was delivered to Earth.

Researchers working with the American space agency Nasa say their
"proto-cells" mimic the membranous structures found in all living
things.
They were produced in a laboratory experiment that duplicated the harsh
conditions of cold interstellar space.

It is possible such structures could have been important in protecting
self-replicating molecules as they evolved into primitive life.

These molecules could then have been delivered to a young Earth by
comets,
meteorites or interplanetary dust, where they kick-started life on our
planet.

Membranous structures

"Scientists believe the molecules needed to make a cell's membrane, and
therefore needed for the origin of life, are all over space. This
discovery
implies that life could be everywhere in the Universe," said lead
researcher
Dr Louis Allamandola,

Researchers from Nasa's Ames Astrochemistry Laboratory and the
Department of
Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of California, Santa Cruz,
used
simple, common chemicals in their experiment - ices made of water,
methanol,
ammonia and carbon monoxide.

These were zapped with ultraviolet radiation in a vacuum to simulate
space
conditions.

This produced solid materials which, when immersed in water,
spontaneously
created soap bubble-like membranous structures that contained both an
"inside" and an "outside" layer. The structures themselves are not
alive.

Protected chemistry

"The formation of these biologically interesting compounds by
irradiating
simple interstellar ices shows that some of the organics falling to
Earth in
meteorites and interplanetary dust might have been born in the coldest
regions of interstellar space."

Scientists do not know how life began but at some point membranes
became
important.

"All life as we know it on Earth uses membrane structures to separate
and
protect the chemistry involved in the life process from the outside,"
said
Dr Jason Dworkin of the California-based Seti (Search for
Extra-Terrestrial
Intelligence) Institute.

"Membranes are like a house. Maybe these molecules were just the raw
lumber
lying around that allowed origin-of-life chemicals to move in and set
up
housekeeping or construct their own houses."

Life everywhere

This new work suggests that the early chemical steps believed to be
important for the origin of life do not require an already-formed
planet.

Instead, they seem to take place in deep space long before planet
formation
occurs.

This implies that the vastness of space is filled with chemical
compounds
which, if they land in a hospitable environment like our Earth, can
readily
jump-start life.

Dr Monica Grady, from the Natural History Museum in London, who has
analysed
Martian meteorites for signs of life, said: "We've known for a long
time
that the building blocks for life exist in outer space."

The study is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences.

Further work

Co-researcher Dr Scott Sandford said the team would continue to
investigate
the properties of their cells.

"We want to see if they show some of the same behaviours you see in
biological membranes," he told the BBC. "It's one thing to have little
structures with an inside and an outside, but in living membranes its
important to be leaky - but not too leaky.

"You need for waste products to pass out and new resources to come in,
but
not in an uncontrolled fashion.

"We'd like to understand whether these membranes let things pass
through
them and whether they're selective about it."


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