Study: RNA life appeared on Earth 4.33 billion years ago

European and American planetary scientists, biologists, and geologists have reached the conclusion that the first organisms of what is called “RNA life,” which preceded the appearance of the first protein life forms, arose on Earth about 4.33 billion years ago, when an optimal environment was formed on it for its emergence. Scientists confirmed this in an article published by Nature Communications.

The study stated: “We comprehensively studied the conditions in which RNA molecules and other potential “building blocks” for the first life forms on Earth settled. These calculations indicate that these molecules began to accumulate and be preserved about 4.33 billion years ago, that is, 130 million years before the supposed emergence of “Luca”, as the common ancestor of all modern life forms.”

Within the framework of this computer model, scientists reproduced all the characteristics of the chemical composition of our planet that were characteristic of it in the Hadean, 4-4.54 billion years ago, as well as the characteristics of its geology and space environment.

Scientists conducted virtual experiments on a similar model of the early Earth. Within the framework of this computer model, scientists reproduced all the characteristics of the chemical composition of our planet that characterized it in the Hadean era, 4-4.54 billion years ago, as well as its geological characteristics and space environment.

These calculations helped scientists evaluate how various events in Earth's early history, including collisions with the Moon's predecessor, as well as periods of mass impact by asteroids and comets, affected the planet's ability to have living organisms. Based on the results of these calculations, Abramov and his colleagues concluded that the Earth's surface was regularly "sterilized" in the first 140 million years of its existence, and was not suitable for the emergence of RNA life.

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Over the next 70 million years, the geological situation on Earth stabilized, creating a window of opportunity for the emergence and continuation of the first complex biological systems capable of self-replication. The optimal conditions for this were formed about 4.33 billion years ago, that is, 210 million years after the planet was formed, and about 130 million years before the supposed appearance of the first protein organisms.

The latter suggests, as Abramov and his colleagues note, that the era of the “RNA world” lasted for a relatively short time, and that the terrestrial life we ​​are familiar with arose as a result of a process of chemical evolution in a relatively short time after the appropriate conditions appeared, which fundamentally changes scientists’ perceptions of how life arises on Earth and on other potentially inhabited planets.