Scientists identify 'sweet spot' for early stage of life on Earth that preceded LUCA, the ancestor of all living things
New research has pinned down the onset of the "RNA World," a hypothetical time in Earth's very early history when RNA was the primary replicating substance.
Scientists have pinpointed a window in Earth's deep past when conditions were ideal for the emergence of a proposed early stage of life known as the RNA World. This period occurred around 4.33 billion years ago, though Earth may have become habitable for the RNA World as early as 4.4 billion years ago. The researchers, who published their findings in the journal Nature Communications, used a computer model to simulate the effects of asteroid and comet impacts on Earth's crust during the 4.5 billion to 3.5 billion year timeframe.
These impacts sterilized the surface for millions of years, but conditions stabilized around 4.4 billion years ago. By then, hydrothermal vent clusters formed, concentrating essential ingredients for RNA, such as nucleotides, peptides and lipids. The RNA World, a hypothetical time before the emergence of the Last Universal Common Ancestor (LUCA), is a leading hypothesis for the origin of life on Earth.
The study's findings provide a more precise estimate of the RNA World's onset compared to previous estimates, which ranged from 4.46 to 3.9 billion years ago.
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