As part of a unique experiment, a group of chemists under the leadership of Bartos A. Gzhibovsky from the Korean Institute of Main Sciences and the Polish Academy of Sciences used blockchain technology for modeling more than 4 billion chemical reactions, which, according to scientists, played a key role in the emergence of life on the early Earth. Research was published in the journal Chem on January 24th.
Researchers adapted the process of solving complex mathematical problems, widely used in cryptocurrency mining, to the task of calculating chemical reactions. The purpose of scientists was to find out how primitive forms of metabolism on Earth could arise without the participation of enzymes. As part of the NOL (Network of Early Life, a network of early life), an extensive network of chemical reactions was created. For this, the selection of the main molecules was carried out, which, presumably, existed on the early Earth, including water, methane, and ammonia. Scientists have developed rules governing possible reactions between different types of molecules, which were then translated into a language that is understandable to computers.
Afterward, using the principles of blockchain technology, the team carried out the calculation of these reactions within the framework of the created large-scale network. The project was actively involved in both chemists and specialists in the field of computer sciences from Allchemy. For data processing, they used the Golem platform, coordinating calculations on hundreds of computers around the world and rewarding them with cryptocurrency during calculations.
Initially, the NOL network covered more than 11 billion chemical reactions. However, after careful analysis and selection, the number of potential reactions was reduced to 4.9 billion. During the study, scientists discovered traces of already known metabolic processes and also synthesized 128 simple biotic molecules, which sheds light on complex processes of early prebiotic chemistry and allows for a better understanding of how life on Earth could arise.
Particular interest arose from the discovery that among the billions of reactions considered, only a few demonstrated the ability for “self-reproducing” behavior – the possibility of molecules to independently create their copies. Bartosz Gzhibovsky emphasized, “Our results show that self-haloging in the presence of only small molecules is a rare occurrence.” This observation calls into question the previously existing theories about the key role of self-reproduction in the origin of life.
Gzhib