Parts of the primordial soup in which life arose have been maintained in our cells today according to scientists at the University of East Anglia. Research published today in the Journal of Biological Chemistry reveals how cells in plants, yeast and very likely also in animals still perform ancient reactions thought to have been responsible for the origin of life – some four billion years ago. The primordial soup theory suggests that life began in a pond or ocean as a result of the combination of metals, gases from the atmosphere and some form of energy, such as a lightning strike, to make the building blocks of proteins which would then evolve into all species. The new research shows how small pockets of a cell – known as mitochondria – continue to perform similar reactions in our bodies today. These reactions involve iron, sulfur and electro-chemistry and are still important for functions such as respiration in animals and photosynthesis in plants. Lead researcher Dr Janneke Balk, from UEA’s school of Biological Sciences and the John Innes Centre, said: “Cells confine certain bits of dangerous chemistry to specific compartments of the cell. “For example small pockets of a cell called mitochondria deal with
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