Life Really Did Start in Clay

The best scientific model for the first cell matches words in a 3,500 year old book

Apr 19, 2024

The scientific world has struggled for thousands of years to explain the mysterious origin of life. Let’s take a look at the present state of the art, which has advanced dramatically during the past fifty years.

And let’s start with the basics. We know that all life on Earth uses cells, and that all cells (whether in animals, plants, fungi, or protozoa) must release energy by breaking down molecules into simpler building blocks. Because all cells use variations of the same chemical process to do this, and all cells use DNA, we deduce that all families (animal, plant, fungus, protozoa) come from a common ancestor.

Darwin’s theory says that small mutations result in major changes over time, and for now let’s simply accept that evolution is responsible for all of the changes since the first cell came to life. Today’s question is….how did a random soup of water, hydrogen, methane, and carbon dioxide somehow transform into complex macromolecules like DNA?

For the first living cell, we need multiple things to come together:

--The proto-cell must protect itself from outside forces (sunlight, chemicals, other molecules) with a cell wall.

--It must convert energy to be able to grow.

--It must be able to copy itself and split into two cells to reproduce.

Without all three actions, any random combination of molecules would simply die and disappear. So, I begin by stating that all three must happen together to begin the chain of life.

So far, so good. This is where the scientists normally put a big question mark on their flow chart, because nobody has a good explanation for how random chemicals made the leap from lego blocks into a working cell. It’s a big leap. To visualize what needs to happen, let’s look at a series of steps:

1. First, in the primordial soup, we start with fairly simple stuff such as water (H₂O), methane (CH₄), ammonia (NH₃), and carbon dioxide (CO₂). We know that these simple chemicals can be formed in space, or on earth, with sunlight as a stimulus. An energy source (such as either sunlight or volcanic heat) is necessary, because a methane molecule stores higher energy than the simple carbon and hydrogen precursors.

2. Next, our little Lego blocks of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen need to combine in ways that are unnatural for them. As one example, Acetyl CoA is one critical part of the energy cycle for all cells. To assemble an Acetyl-CoA molecule, we need all of the right CH4, NH3, CO2, H2, and phosphorous components to line up in the right places, but we also need to inject a tremendous amount of energy to force the smaller, more stable molecules to break up and create a larger, less thermodynamically stable molecule. This is not likely, but it is possible with a hot volcanic planet with an ocean and lots of lightning.

3. Now that we have intermediate carbon molecules, we need to make amino acids. An amino acid has even higher ‘reduction potential’, meaning that we need to inject additional energy to move from our intermediate molecules like Acetyl CoA to amino acids like lysine and arginine.[1] Amino acids are the ‘letters of the alphabet’ for biology, and there are 20 amino acids that are used in various combinations to make proteins.

Most scientists believe that amino acids can be made in hydrothermal vents or under other conditions where heat or electrical energy can fuel the reaction. With just the right conditions of pH, salinity, and temperature, a few amino acids have been made in the lab. Each of the 20 amino acids needs different conditions, so getting them all together in nature would be unlikely.

4. Nobody has provided an adequate explanation for how amino acids line up to form proteins with DNA. This is another step that is difficult for thermodynamics, as we are taking another step up in stored energy.[2] The simplest proteins have about 150 amino acids lined up in a row. Even if you consider a primordial soup with super-abundance of amino acids, making them line up in sequence to form the right chain is extremely unlikely. One analogy that is often used here is to say that ‘with enough monkeys banging away at typewriters, eventually one of them would type the works of Shakespeare’. In mathematical terms, the odds are less than 1 chance in 20¹⁵⁰, or 1 chance in 10¹⁹⁵. This is such a low probability that even if the entire mass of a planet was converted to complex carbon molecules, DNA would be unlikely to form in quadrillions of years, not billions. One scientist made the analogy that this would be like a tornado blowing through a junkyard and assembling a fully functional 747….from a practical point of view, it’s impossible.

Many people stop here, but there are new discoveries and theories to discuss. Some theorists have suggested that the first life came to Earth as a stowaway on a meteorite. But that doesn’t solve the question of how life formed…it simply says that it formed somewhere else and took a very unlikely space voyage without dying.

Another theory says that RNA formed first, and evolved into DNA. This is possible…the single-helix RNA super-molecule is simpler than double-helix DNA. And there may have been other intermediate steps that we have not found yet. Based on recent experiments, it seems most likely that a small “RNA World” environment grew in an alkaline hydrothermal vent in our young ocean…and the energy of the vent was coupled with the pH difference (inside and outside the vent) to create all of the necessary carbon molecules.

One problem with RNA is that it’s not stable. DNA is reinforced by its double helix structure, so it’s strong enough to withstand changes in chemistry, temperature, and light. But RNA uses a single helix and it breaks down easily. If we theorize that the “RNA World” existed for thousands or millions of years to evolve into DNA, we introduce the very unlikely case that conditions in a bubble remained stable for such a long time.

One recent experiment caught my eye. Researchers at University College in London have been able to create simple amino acids from chemical parts, and they have shown convincingly[3] that a hydrothermal vent provides the necessary protected environment, with the right pH and the right energy for the chemical reactions. [4]

Another unsolved problem comes up in the hydrothermal vent theory: If RNA formed and evolved to DNA inside a protected space in a hydrothermal vent, how did the RNA or DNA begin to include the genetic instructions to build a cell wall or membrane? The cell membrane somehow seemed to form independently of the RNA or DNA structures inside the protected space.

Remember, to achieve the first living cell, it must be able to convert energy and it must reproduce the entire cell, along with its cell membrane for protection. We can currently identify the possible conditions for the membrane to form, and the very unlikely conditions for RNA or DNA to form…but the conditions for a membrane are different than the best conditions for RNA/DNA formation. We don’t know how to resolve this question.

In closing, I’d like to point out one recent discovery that will blow your mind: in the laboratory, scientists have been able to line up complex carbon structures using clay as a substrate. Clay can naturally form in a repetitive chemical structure, with silicon, aluminum, potassium, magnesium, and other components lined up in an orderly way. A flat surface of clay can improve the odds of DNA formation by giving the amino acids a template on which to line themselves up. This currently looks like the best theory for the formation of the first replicating carbon macro-molecule.[5][6]

In the original Hebrew, (Genesis 2:7) the Bible says that we are made from aphar, which translates into “dust”, “clay”, or “ashes”. The irony is sweet here….all of these scientists are working to disprove the existence of God, but instead they have confirmed one of the early verses of the Bible.

Even after our brillant inventions in computer science, humans have still never invented anything that stores and copies information as well as DNA. (in terms of information density, DNA beats anything invented by people).[7] To me, this is the most compelling evidence that we have a Creator. I cannot believe that random collisions of molecules spontaneously created something so perfect, billions of years ago, without the hand of a Creator getting involved.

Life Really Did Start in Clay

The best scientific model for the first cell matches words in a 3,500 year old book

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