For centuries, researchers have pondered the grand question, “How did life begin?” Although we can’t witness those early days, scientists make educated guesses by using various pieces of information from chemistry, physics, and geology.
Most theories have concentrated on molecules and polymers, while a newly proposed idea considers a simpler, stickier substance: gels. These gel-like bodies could have helped create a setting in which life took its first step.
A scientific team from Japan, Malaysia, the UK, and Germany has suggested that, rather than evolving in the ocean or at deep-sea vents, the first steps of evolution could have begun in a sticky gel attached to the surface. The notion not only re-creates the origins of life on Earth but also creates fresh possibilities for the origins of life in the universe.
This approach is called the “prebiotic gel-first” framework, and it’s inspired by the idea of microbial biofilms we see around us today.
Simple chemical process that may have led to the origin of life on Earth
In this idea, life’s first steps may have happened inside sticky gels attached to surfaces, similar in some ways to modern microbial biofilms. Biofilms are the thin layers of bacteria you see on rocks, pond surfaces, or even man-made objects.
Based on the research combining soft matter chemistry and biology, the team proposes that “such primordial gels may have provided an environment in which simple chemical systems became increasingly complex, well before the first cells evolved.
The team also proposes that gels might have supported proto-metabolism, simple energy processes powered by light, redox reactions, or mechanical forces. They may even have allowed primitive forms of replication through self-copying networks.
Kuhan Chandru, research scientist at the Space Science Center, National University of Malaysia (UKM) and co-lead author of the study, said, “This is just one theory among many in the vast landscape of origin-of-life research. However, since the role of gels has been largely overlooked, we wanted to synthesize scattered studies into a cohesive narrative that puts primitive gels at the forefront of the discussion.”
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Looking beyond Earth, the researchers extend the idea to the search for alien life. They suggest the possibility of ‘xeno-films,’ biofilm-like structures composed of non-terrestrial materials. This highlights the importance of agnostic life-detection strategies that aim to detect signs of life we don’t yet recognize.
Future space missions may not just search for familiar biological molecules. The team suggests they should also look for gel-like structures that can create environments friendly to life.
To test this idea, the team plans experiments in the lab. They will study how simple chemicals, under early Earth conditions, might have formed gels and explore the special properties those gels could have conferred on the chemical systems that eventually led to life.
“We also hope that our work inspires others in the field to further explore this and other underexplored origins-of-life theories!” said Ramona Khanum, co-first author of the paper and a former intern at UKM.
Journal Reference:
- Dr. Ramona Khanum, Nirmell Satthiyasilan, Navaniswaran Tharumen, Assoc. Prof. Terence P. Kee, Prof. Christian Mayer, Assoc. Prof. P. Susthitha Menon, Prof. Tony Z. Jia, Dr. Kuhan Chandru. Prebiotic Gels as the Cradle of Life. ChemSystemsChem. DOI: 10.1002/syst.202500038
