What Is The Metabolism-First Hypothesis For The Origin Of life?

The origin of life is still a largely unsolved mystery. In recent years, many scientists have grown convinced that a deeper study of metabolism will reveal important secrets about the origin of life. In this animation you will learn why metabolism is so interesting to these researchers, and what the study of metabolism has revealed about the chemical origin of life so far.

This animation is published in unison with the Nature paper: A plausible metal-free ancestral analogue of the Krebs cycle composed entirely of α-ketoacids

[StatedClearly]

Welcome to the comment section. Please help cultivate thoughtful conversation here on the topic of the origin of life. All views are welcome, so long as they are presented respectfully to those with opposing views.

[moazzhussain]

I love how the animator actually tells us how he drew the images. I always thought that most the animators are just lazy and don't want t show the details. This right here is a dedicated man. He deserves a big fat raise.

[Gaumukh]

As a nurse, i found your videos so useful. You take us to a basic level of learning which is so important if we want to know how things work.

[dustinsmith]

As a biochemist who has always been interested in the origins of life and prebiotic chemistry. I absolutely love this series!

[justgivemethetruth]

I'm mesmerized by how human beings ever figured all of this stuff out ... it is awe inspiring. Fantastic video.

[notnilc]

Commenting for the youtube algorithm cus I like your stuff.

[johnh]

I teach Biology and have to cover the RNA world hypothesis. I found this interesting and will be sharing with my students.

[shelledreptile]

Thanks Jon The video is informative and Great, you did a great Job illustrating the subject..♥️♥️♥️

[lectrix]

Taking a genetics class this semester and the molecular biology part is fascinating but very dense with information. This series is actually giving me a conceptual framework that has helped me anchor many new concepts as I relate them the ideas presented here in my mind.

[wolfgangouille]

This generation doesn't realize how lucky it is to have this kind of material accessible online.

[petercoderch]

Of all the many theories of abiogenesis(the Lipid World, the RNA World, the Hydrothermal Vent Protocell theory, the hypercycles theory, etc), this is hands down the most plausible. I actually read the full paper by that German chemist, and it is an absolutely stunning work of brilliance. It is, however, a very gratting read. You need 4 years of university-level knowledge of organic chemistry to even begin understanding it. He goes on in exactly detail, step-by-step how all the necessary components form, and then lays it down brillianty how it all comes together, over a billion years, to form the first procaryotic cell ever, living in a volcanic lake and feeding off methane.

[KohuGaly]

There's a bit of a confusion regarding the topic of abiogenesis and how it is presented. The various "[insert blank]-first" hypotheses are often presented as strictly mutually exclusive, when only their most extreme forms are exclusive. In reality, they are probably all partially true. The real debate is about how big of a contribution each of these proposed processes had on the overall processes of abiogenesis.

For example, we simply don't know how big of a role these sorts of primordial metabolisms played. The tar paradox may be only apparent paradox and the extra "junk" in the sludge doesn't hinder formation of life at all, no metabolism necessary. Alternatively, the tar paradox might be real and metabolism is necessary. Or it could be anything in between. We simply don't know yet.

[SciBugs]

This was awesome Jon! I love these videos on early-pre-life stuff. Really helps to put everything into perspective =)

[Sclark]

Watching again after a couple of years and still finding as stunning as the first time I watched it. An amazing job.

[paulcooper]

This idea is completely new to me, a very interesting proposal for expanding the (over dramatic) crucible of life.

[claytonharting]

Thanks for making this video! I hadn’t even heard of this hypothesis before and it was really cool to learn about :)

So the idea of metabolism-first is that life didn’t need to start as a self-replicating molecule, and could’ve instead started even simpler, as a molecule helping to support the conditions that caused it to come into existence in the first place? That’s very interesting. That implies that we might not be descended from that first molecule, and instead from a molecule that that class of molecules indirectly helped support the creation of. That’s really interesting!

[maylingng]

*A giant step on the road of total understanding of abiogenesis. (from Protocells to DNA)*

What is protocell? A protocell (or protobiont) is a self-organized, endogenously ordered, spherical collection of lipids proposed as a stepping-stone toward the origin of life. A longer definition is supplied by several biology books:

“The protocell includes two or more RNA replicases which are able to make copies of each other. Concurrent with RNA replication, the vesicle membrane grows through the addition of fatty acids from micelle collisions. This causes the surface area of the protocell to increase while the volume remains constant, resulting in the elongation and increased instability of the protocell membrane. The membrane eventually divides, forming two daughter protocells, with the RNA replicases randomly divided between them.”

The protocell is very important as it relates to genetic material, which from the protocell gets transferred to living cells and is known as DNA. DNA evolves into RNA and then to functional proteins. This appears to be a paradox, because RNA is less stable form of DNA (it is sort of going backwards), however this confirms the RNA World hypothesis. (The RNA hypothesis deals with the pre-biotic world where there are RNA molecules present, which are precursor to life. RNA molecules are able to replicate themselves and are also capable of protein synthesis. Also co-existed with ribozymes, which are catalytic RNA. ) Because DNA goes back to a less stable and less advanced form or a simpler version of itself (RNA) then goes from there to proteins, we can safely conclude the RNA was the first genetic material on earth.

Later (perhaps much later) DNA has evolved from this RNA. DNA is a more advanced form of RNA because DNA is double stranded (RNA is single stranded), which is more stable. So this is the explanation of how functional protein is made, by DNA returning (seemingly backwards) to RNA; to pick up the first genetic material. At this stage the RNA acts as a “middle man”. This is the beginning of the actual living cells.

[charleslampman]

So much love to you! I have been watching your shorts recently and it has led me to your long form materials. I curate my feed to be nerd friendly- thank you for contributing!

[darkdenver]

Those who enjoyed this animation might like to read Spontaneous Order and the Origin of Life, a popular science version of the profound Smith/Morowitz text on the subject.

[Hyumanity]

Human reasoning can sometimes be so elegant and beaautifullll. Lovely!