Molecular Clues to Life’s Building Blocks: How Early Peptides Could Stick Together

What is it about?

The fact that all life on Earth shares a common set of molecular building blocks is no accident. This remarkable universality points to the action of fundamental governing forces driven by physical and chemical principles that shaped the origin of life long before biology as we know it emerged. Yet, despite decades of study, we still do not fully understand these forces. Our research seeks to illuminate some of these forces by taking a chemical evolution perspective: examining how simple molecules on the early Earth could have assembled into the precursors of living systems. A central focus of our work is the formation of peptides, the short chains of amino acids that later became the backbone of proteins in all living cells. By exploring how these peptides could have formed under primitive, prebiotic conditions, before enzymes and modern cells existed, we aim to uncover the chemical rules that guided the emergence of life’s molecular toolkit. One of the enduring questions we explore is why life ultimately chose α-amino acids, the specific form of amino acids found in all proteins today, rather than the β- or γ-amino acids that were also abundant on the ancient Earth. Understanding this selective process can shed light on the physical and chemical constraints that governed the transition from simple chemistry to complex biology, offering insights into the mysteries of life’s origins. By uncovering the chemical logic behind life’s choices, we move closer to understanding how biology itself was born.

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Photo by Keely Klenke on Unsplash

Photo by Keely Klenke on Unsplash

Why is it important?

Throughout history, the question of how and why life emerged has fascinated some of humanity’s greatest thinkers. Although no single answer has yet been found, researchers have chipped away at this mystery step by step. Our study is one such step forward, bringing us closer to understanding the fundamental forces that shaped life on Earth. This knowledge is not only of deep scientific interest, it may also inspire new innovations. By revealing the chemical rules that guided the earliest steps toward biology and the fundamental principles governing chemical evolution, we may design novel targets for medical research. Beyond medicine, insights into life’s origins could help us understand evolutionary processes and accelerate advances such as the genetic improvement of crops. Our work adds another piece to this vast and intricate puzzle, showing that solving it will require the combined efforts of biology, chemistry, physics, and geology to see the full picture rather than a single, partial perspective.

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