From: SHnSASSY1@aol.com
Subject: [SD] Cells - Hint at Life's ET Orgin
Date: 31 Jan 2001 16:56:20 -0500
To: para-discuss@yahoogroups.com

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_1142000/1142840.stm 
'Cells' hint at life's origin



The cells may have been a shelter for life to start

By BBC News Online science editor Dr David Whitehouse 
Scientists have managed to create "primitive cells" in an experiment which 
may indicate that life began in space and was delivered to Earth. 



The delivery of these compounds could well have been critical to the origin 
of life on Earth.
 
Dr Louis Allamandola  
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, 



Some of the experimental cells have strange internal structures
 
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." 



This work is very interesting in that it shows that natural reactions 
occurring in space are capable of building up more complex structures.
 
Dr Monica Grady  
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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