djarm67 | Abiogenesis - Urey - Miller re-examined @djarm67 | Uploaded October 2008 | Updated October 2024, 1 hour ago.
One of the most famous experiments of all time has just been found to have been even more successful than anyone realised. The Miller-Urey spark flask experiment could hold the key to the origin of life on Earth.
Jeffrey Bada of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in California and colleagues re-analysed the original 50-year-old samples left by Stanley Miller of the University of Chicago, in 1953 and 1954. His was the first experiment ever to produce amino acids, the building blocks of proteins, from inorganic molecules and a spark of electricity.
Bada's team discovered more organic molecules than Miller had been able to detect, and also showed that a secondary experiment one that Miller carried out but never published offers the best clue to how life on Earth began some 4 billion years ago.
In the classic Miller-Urey experiment, a mixture of gases and water that Miller thought were present on early Earth was heated and zapped with electricity to mimic lightning. This created five identifiable amino acids.
Yet Miller tested three versions of his spark flask. One of the two lesser-know setups the volcanic apparatus created 22 amino acids that could be positively identified
"The experiment not only produced a richer mix of amino acids but many of the amino acids are ones that have never been detected in a simulated early Earth experiment," says Bada.
What's more, "many of these other amino acids have hydroxyl groups attached to them, meaning they would be more reactive and more likely to create totally new molecules, given enough time", adds Adam Johnson of Indiana University, who collaborated on the project.
environment.newscientist.com/article/dn14966
One of the most famous experiments of all time has just been found to have been even more successful than anyone realised. The Miller-Urey spark flask experiment could hold the key to the origin of life on Earth.
Jeffrey Bada of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in California and colleagues re-analysed the original 50-year-old samples left by Stanley Miller of the University of Chicago, in 1953 and 1954. His was the first experiment ever to produce amino acids, the building blocks of proteins, from inorganic molecules and a spark of electricity.
Bada's team discovered more organic molecules than Miller had been able to detect, and also showed that a secondary experiment one that Miller carried out but never published offers the best clue to how life on Earth began some 4 billion years ago.
In the classic Miller-Urey experiment, a mixture of gases and water that Miller thought were present on early Earth was heated and zapped with electricity to mimic lightning. This created five identifiable amino acids.
Yet Miller tested three versions of his spark flask. One of the two lesser-know setups the volcanic apparatus created 22 amino acids that could be positively identified
"The experiment not only produced a richer mix of amino acids but many of the amino acids are ones that have never been detected in a simulated early Earth experiment," says Bada.
What's more, "many of these other amino acids have hydroxyl groups attached to them, meaning they would be more reactive and more likely to create totally new molecules, given enough time", adds Adam Johnson of Indiana University, who collaborated on the project.
environment.newscientist.com/article/dn14966
