Apparently the process is quite simple and therefore repeatable outside of Earth. This gives hope for the existence of life on other planets.

What experiments showed

A research team has found a new complex of chemical reactions from which only four components of the so-called primordial soup can arise from the basic building blocks of life – amino acids and the precursor to the nucleotides that make up DNA and RNA.

This is a very simplified formulation that provides a general understanding of the processes. However, it is not known exactly which reactions take place between which components. Scientists have long been trying to present “recipes” of primary broth by subjecting it to various conditions. However, they have not yet achieved significant success.

best recipe

• In a new study, Scripps Research experts prepared their own version of the broth and discovered a new set of chemical reactions involving simple ingredients common on Earth during its early development.
• after mixing cyanide, ammonia, carbon dioxide and alpha-keto acidsScientists have observed how amino acids begin to appear in this broth.
• The report states that each of these components plays a role, and without one the whole process crashes. Alpha-keto acids are the precursors of what modern cells make amino acids. Ammonia is an essential nitrogen source for the conversion process. Cyanide provides the reaction and carbon dioxide accelerates the process.

We expected to encounter significant difficulties, but everything turned out to be easier than we imagined. If you just mix keto acids, cyanide and ammonia, nothing will happen. When you add a small amount of carbon dioxide, the reaction accelerates,
says lead researcher Ramanarayanan Krishnamurthy.

4 billion years, but almost nothing has changed

Researchers say that the process actually repeats the modern way of making amino acids in living cellscyanide appears instead of enzymes not found in the original broth. This simplicity and similarity to modern biological processes suggests that this version of the soup is more likely than other hypotheses.

Additionally, a byproduct of these reactions is orotate, a precursor to the nucleotides that make up DNA and RNA. In this way, a number of components of life could emerge.

Now the researchers will test whether amino acids can start to form small proteins and whether one of these proteins can start to act as an enzyme to make more of these amino acids.