A U.S. study suggests life might have begun in the protected spaces inside of layers of the mineral mica in ancient oceans.

Helen Hansma, a biophysicist researcher at the University of California-Santa Barbara, proposes the narrow confined spaces between the thin layers of mica could have provided exactly the right conditions for the rise of the first biomolecules -- effectively creating cells without membranes.

The separation of the layers would have also provided the isolation needed for Darwinian evolution, she said.

"Some think that the first biomolecules were simple proteins, some think they were RNA, or ribonucleic acid," said Hansma. "Both proteins and RNA could have formed in between the mica sheets."

Besides providing a more plausible hypothesis than the prebiotic oceanic "soup" theory, Hansma said her hypothesis also explains more than the so-called "pizza" hypothesis. That model proposes biomolecules originated on the surfaces of minerals from the Earth's crust. But that, she said, doesn't explain how the earliest biomolecules obtained the right amount of water to form stable biopolymers.

She presented her findings Tuesday in Washington during the annual meeting of the American Society for Cell Biology. // Copyright 2007 by United Press International


Publication date: 05 December 2007   

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