Challenge to Origin of Life: Energy Harnessing (Long Story Short, Ep. 7)

Chemical evolution would have required a continuous supply of energy to create the first life. But are the energy sources that have been proposed for chemical evolution realistic? In this episode of Long Story Short, explore some of the challenges chemical evolution would have faced in order to harness the energy needed to originate the first life. This is one of several episodes about the origin of life.

REFERENCES CITED:
(1) Branscomb, E.; Russell, M. J. Frankenstein or a submarine alkaline vent: who is responsible for abiogenesis? Part 2: as life is now, so it must have been in the beginning. BioEssays 2018, 40 (8), 1700182. Kitadai, N.; Maruyama, S. Origins of building blocks of life: A review. Geoscience Frontiers 2018, 9 (4), 1117-1153. Miller, S. L. A production of amino acids under possible primitive earth conditions. Science 1953, 117 (3046), 528-529.

(2) Note. Technically cells can absorb some forms of energy like heat, but without a way to harness the energy it’s not useful and can even be damaging.

(3) Note. Technically, there are five complexes involved in oxidative phosphorylation but only these three are relevant to the discussion at hand. Complex II (succinate dehydrogenase) also participates in the citric acid cycle and runs parallel to Complex I (NADH ubiquinone oxidoreductase) except Complex II receives electrons from FADH2 but doesn't pump protons and Complex I receives electrons from NADH. Complex V is the wonderful ATP synthase (or ATPase when it runs in reverse and breaks down ATP to pump protons backward to build up the gradient).

(4) Note. Also known as “free radicals”, they damage molecules like DNA by altering or breaking covalent bonds and are a major source of what causes us to age.

(5) Vu Huu, K.; Zangl, R.; Hoffmann, J.; Just, A.; Morgner, N. Bacterial F-type ATP synthases follow a well-choreographed assembly pathway. Nature communications 2022, 13 (1), 1-13.

(6) Walker, J. E.; Saraste, M.; Gay, N. J. The unc operon nucleotide sequence, regulation and structure of ATP-synthase. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA)-Reviews on Bioenergetics 1984, 768 (2), 164-200.

(7) Lane, N. The vital question: energy, evolution, and the origins of complex life. WW Norton & Company, 2015; p 82.

(9) Note. Average human = 70kg. ATP = 507 g/mol. A human therefore weighs as much as about 140 moles of ATP. A human consumes about 140 * 6.022X10^23 = 8.43X10^25 ATP molecules per day. 1 day = 86,400 seconds. Therefore, each second, a human consumes 9.75X10^20 ATP molecules. Basically 10^21 ATP molecules per second, which is "a billion trillion ATP molecules per second".

(10) Note. Producing ADP also requires many complex enzymes, each produced with the help of energy from ATP: pyrophosphokinase, amidophosphoribosyltransferase, GAR synthetase, GAR transformylase, FGAM synthetase, AIR synthetase, AIR carboxylase, SAICAR synthetase, adenylosuccinate lyase, AICAR transformylase, IMP cyclohydrolase, and adenylosuccinate synthase. Voet, D.; Voet, J. G.; Pratt, C. W. Fundamentals of biochemistry: life at the molecular level. John Wiley & Sons, 2016; pp 802-808.

(11) Note. Some machines operate on other molecules with high energy-transfer potential, like GTP but the problems there are the same as with ATP. .

(12) Lane, N. The vital question: energy, evolution, and the origins of complex life. WW Norton & Company, 2015; p 106.

(13) Note. Via a pH gradient that provides a high pH (alkaline) solution that mixes with the neutral or lower pH seawater.

(15) Jackson, J. B. Natural pH gradients in hydrothermal alkali vents were unlikely to have played a role in the origin of life. Journal of molecular evolution 2016, 83 (1), 1-11.

(16) Jackson, J. B. Natural pH gradients in hydrothermal alkali vents were unlikely to have played a role in the origin of life. Journal of molecular evolution 2016, 83 (1), 9.

(17) Lane, N. The vital question: energy, evolution, and the origins of complex life. WW Norton & Company, 2015; p 168.

(18) Bonora, M.; Patergnani, S.; Rimessi, A.; De Marchi, E.; Suski, J. M.; Bononi, A.; Giorgi, C.; Marchi, S.; Missiroli, S.; Poletti, F.; et al. ATP synthesis and storage. Purinergic Signal 2012, 8 (3), 343-357.
===

[DiscoveryScienceChannel]

REFERENCES CITED:
(1) Branscomb, E.; Russell, M. J. Frankenstein or a submarine alkaline vent: who is responsible for abiogenesis? Part 2: as life is now, so it must have been in the beginning. BioEssays 2018, 40 (8), 1700182. Kitadai, N.; Maruyama, S. Origins of building blocks of life: A review. Geoscience Frontiers 2018, 9 (4), 1117-1153. Miller, S. L. A production of amino acids under possible primitive earth conditions. Science 1953, 117 (3046), 528-529.

(2) Note. Technically cells can absorb some forms of energy like heat, but without a way to harness the energy it’s not useful and can even be damaging.

(3) Note. Technically, there are five complexes involved in oxidative phosphorylation but only these three are relevant to the discussion at hand. Complex II (succinate dehydrogenase) also participates in the citric acid cycle and runs parallel to Complex I (NADH ubiquinone oxidoreductase) except Complex II receives electrons from FADH2 but doesn't pump protons and Complex I receives electrons from NADH. Complex V is the wonderful ATP synthase (or ATPase when it runs in reverse and breaks down ATP to pump protons backward to build up the gradient).

(4) Note. Also known as “free radicals”, they damage molecules like DNA by altering or breaking covalent bonds and are a major source of what causes us to age.

(5) Vu Huu, K.; Zangl, R.; Hoffmann, J.; Just, A.; Morgner, N. Bacterial F-type ATP synthases follow a well-choreographed assembly pathway. Nature communications 2022, 13 (1), 1-13.

(6) Walker, J. E.; Saraste, M.; Gay, N. J. The unc operon nucleotide sequence, regulation and structure of ATP-synthase. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA)-Reviews on Bioenergetics 1984, 768 (2), 164-200.

(7) Lane, N. The vital question: energy, evolution, and the origins of complex life. WW Norton & Company, 2015; p 82.


(9) Note. Average human = 70kg. ATP = 507 g/mol. A human therefore weighs as much as about 140 moles of ATP. A human consumes about 140 * 6.022X10^23 = 8.43X10^25 ATP molecules per day. 1 day = 86, 400 seconds. Therefore, each second, a human consumes 9.75X10^20 ATP molecules. Basically 10^21 ATP molecules per second, which is "a billion trillion ATP molecules per second".

(10) Note. Producing ADP also requires many complex enzymes, each produced with the help of energy from ATP: pyrophosphokinase, amidophosphoribosyltransferase, GAR synthetase, GAR transformylase, FGAM synthetase, AIR synthetase, AIR carboxylase, SAICAR synthetase, adenylosuccinate lyase, AICAR transformylase, IMP cyclohydrolase, and adenylosuccinate synthase. Voet, D.; Voet, J. G.; Pratt, C. W. Fundamentals of biochemistry: life at the molecular level. John Wiley & Sons, 2016; pp 802-808.

(11) Note. Some machines operate on other molecules with high energy-transfer potential, like GTP but the problems there are the same as with ATP. .

(12) Lane, N. The vital question: energy, evolution, and the origins of complex life. WW Norton & Company, 2015; p 106.

(13) Note. Via a pH gradient that provides a high pH (alkaline) solution that mixes with the neutral or lower pH seawater.


(15) Jackson, J. B. Natural pH gradients in hydrothermal alkali vents were unlikely to have played a role in the origin of life. Journal of molecular evolution 2016, 83 (1), 1-11.

(16) Jackson, J. B. Natural pH gradients in hydrothermal alkali vents were unlikely to have played a role in the origin of life. Journal of molecular evolution 2016, 83 (1), 9.

(17) Lane, N. The vital question: energy, evolution, and the origins of complex life. WW Norton & Company, 2015; p 168.

(18) Bonora, M.; Patergnani, S.; Rimessi, A.; De Marchi, E.; Suski, J. M.; Bononi, A.; Giorgi, C.; Marchi, S.; Missiroli, S.; Poletti, F.; et al. ATP synthesis and storage. Purinergic Signal 2012, 8 (3), 343-357.
===

[robinj.]

Even as a kid in school, I was never convinced that complex living organisms could "make themselves" out of non-organic material.
This theory that life spontaneously appeared out of nothing is truly ridiculous.

[mofojackson]

This is awesome and really adds to what James Tour and Stephen Meyer talk about!

[kfgabriele]

These videos are so fantastic! Much better, vastly more accurate and factual, than all the half-baked nonsense taught in basic chemistry and biology classes (in highschool as well as college). Thank you! This channel is an absolute blessing!

[BibleResearchTools]

This is the full Nick Lane quote (mentioned at about the 5:18 mark):

_"This huge electrical potential, known as the _*_proton-motive force, drives the most impressive protein nanomachine of them all, the ATP synthase._*_ Motive implies motion and the ATP synthase is indeed a rotary motor, in which the flow of protons turns a crank shaft, which in turn rotates a catalytic head. These mechanical forces drive the synthesis of ATP. The protein works like a hydroelectric turbine, whereby protons, pent up in a reservoir behind the barrier of the membrane, flood through the turbine like water cascading downhill, turning the rotating motor. _*_This is barely poetic licence but a precise description, yet it is hard to convey the astonishing complexity of this protein motor. We still don't know exactly how it works_*_ – how each proton binds on to the C-ring within the membrane, how electrostatic interactions spin this ring in one direction only, how the spinning ring twists the crank shaft, forcing conformational changes in the catalytic head, how the clefts that open and close in this head clasp ADP and Pi and force them together in mechanical union, to press a new ATP. _*_This is precision nanoengineering of the highest order, a magical device, and the more we learn about it the more marvellous it becomes._*_ Some see in it proof for the existence of God. I don 't. _*_I see the wonder of natural selection._*_ But it is undoubtedly a wondrous machine." [Nick Lane, "The Vital Question: Energy, Evolution, and the Origins of Complex Life." W. W. Norton & Company, 2015, Chap.2]_

As you can see, evolutionists have simply substituted magic for God, but under the banners of "natural selection" and "time." Evolutionists constantly whine about creationists pleading to the supernatural, but the driving force of evolution is based on the supernatural. Hypocrites.

Dan

[KenJackson_US]

7:17 _"You need it before you can have it, and you can't make it until you've already made it."_
EXCELLENT! That captures the problem not only with abiogenesis but with microbe-to-man evolution too.

[pDVDdsaoVhq]

The number of dislikes and the lack of reasoning for dislikes in the comments show that these facts are hard to counter.

[ciarannagle]

These videos are absolutely superb. You have achieved something that I've been wanting to see for years. You've taken James Tour's erudition and insight and put it in a format accessible to all. The wit and spontaneity alone is a delight, but married to the science it's utterly compelling. These videos should be watched by every science class in the world - and their teachers and professors. Good luck guys, I hope you've started something big.

[emilyreeves]

This video simply and clearly explains the challenge to origin of life for harnessing energy. Love the analogy of grilling the cell phone. It demonstrates the need for precise energy coupling.

[rpennybrown]

"The wrong kind of energy will destroy life." Life hadn't been existing at this point anyway, right? How about "The wrong kind of energy will destroy the components needed for life."? Enjoyed the video very much!

[charlietheteacher]

All of these videos are shown in my biology and chemistry classes. Also, I wish I was a fly on the wall when Jon Perry from Stated Clearly watches these.... :)

[jim]

The more we learn the farther away our understanding becomes. We are however learning what is needed and it shows us how clueless we really are. hubris pushed out

[dokidokibibleclub]

Somewhere an evo is grilling his phone right now to prove you wrong

[Nicolas-glmk]

It should produce amazement!! As much for the brilliant complexity it unveils as for the fact some are still holding to theories that have now gone fossilized.

[artijaiswal]

👌👌thank you discovery team for bringing up this amazing series...god bless all...

[praxitelispraxitelous]

I literally love these videos. Thank you all guys and keep up the very good job. 💐
Thank you for keeping reminding us that the emperor is naked by the way

[ambrosianapier]

I was excited to another one of these videos to come out. I love the art style and how well it’s all explained, the visuals help a lot. Thanks!

[gofish]

Highly entertaining, information packed, and lays out the paradoxes of natural origins that have to be answered (without hand waving of course). Can't wait until the next one!!!

[michaelklick]

I love these! Perfect mix of science and humor to keep the watcher engaged. But I do not who is doing. Can we get a bio on him?

[tiffanymagee]

Brilliant! Thank you for this excellent presentation!!