Model for RNA life

Ulla gave a link to a very interesting paper about the possible mechanism giving life-like properties to RNA system during the conjectured RNA era. The title of the article is "The life story of hydrogen peroxide II: a periodic pH and thermochemical drive for the RNA world. "Life-like" would mean "breathing" realized as these oscillations and would require a metabolic energy source.

I try to interpret the proposal on basis of my own model bringing in the control of chemistry by magnetic body (MB). The idea is that MB adapts to the chemical dynamics and gets a control over it by driving forces realized in terms of dark cyclotron radiation form MB resonating with the chemical oscillations. "Breathing" would basically correspond to the periodic formation of flux tube network with high connectivity giving rise to crystal-like or gel-like state and subsequent decay to plasma-like state with low connectivity and would require metabolic energy feed.

1. The periodic drive is central in TGD based model and gives rise to "breathing". Metabolic energy feed must be involved. In the model for life-like properties of plastic ball system it would be dark nucleosynthesis. In another experimental system acoustic wave feeds energy to the magnetic body (MB). The peroxide (H-O-O-H) bond between oxygens would be the source of the metabolic energy. Peroxide - usually regarded as a mere nuisance (highly Reactive Oxygen Species causing biological damage) - would serve as the "food" of the system. This is the new and radical idea. According to the article the primary energy source would be solar or geothermal. In TGD one can consider dark nucleosynthesis preceding ordinary nucleosynthesis as the source (it might have even given rise to Fe in the core of Earth!).
   
   
2. Figure 1 in the article illustrates that peroxide H₂O₂ would produce in presence of S₂O₃^-2 or S₂O₃^-1 thermal and pH oscillations: "breathing". Peroxide is also told to produce oxidized sulfur species and oxidixe RNA nucleotides: this could also liberate metabolic energy stored in RNA. The outcome would be the replication of RNA. Oxidation of thiosulfate ion by H₂O₂ mentioned in the abstract would naively mean that S₂O₃^-n, n=-1 or -2, gives 1 or 2 electrons to H₂O₂. Table 1 listing various reactions involved in oxidation is however rather complex. It begin to accept that I will never really understand what chemists mean with oxidation! In any case, also the oxidation reaction for S₂O₃^-1 can happen in several steps.
   
   

Consider next the situation from quantum TGD point of view.

1. Periodic oxidation would correspond to breathing generating repeatedly connected magnetic body with quantum coherence and larger h_eff - following the model for breathing plastic ball system as a periodic formation of crystal-like and plasma-like states.
   
   
2. Cyclotron radiation from cyclotron condensates of some important ions would serve as clocks - breathing in several time scales. What are these ions? In plastic ball system protons and Argon ions. 300 Hz is the frequency for B=B_end=.2 Gauss and also the rate of ATP:s produced by ATPase: of course, it was not present at that time. Thiosulfate cyclotron frequency would be 5.4 Hz in B_end for charge of -2 units.
   

   The chemical oscillation periods emerging in the model of authors are measured in fraction of hour whereas the cyclotron periods for ions are fractions of second for ions for B=B_end. Therefore the strength of the magnetic field is much lower than that of Earth. Intergalactic magnetic fields are of order nanoTesla and this would bring scale factor of about 10⁴ to cyclotron periods and they would be of same order of magnitude as the time scales coming from chemical kinetics. For proton the cyclotron period would be 33 seconds. For S₂O₃^-2 cyclotron time scale would be scaled up by the atomic weight 112 giving roughly 40 minutes. This suggests that RNA era occurred in intergalactic space if it occurred at all. If it continues in recent biology, the dark matter must reside at the flux tubes of intergalactic magnetic field. This does not make sense in Maxwell's theory but makes sense in the many-sheeted space-time of TGD Universe.
   
   

3. pH oscillation means that at least dark protons would be involved. pH could be quite generally a direct measure for the density of dark protons. The density of dark protons oscillating periodically meaning formation of cyclotron condensate and its decay could correspond to oscillating pH.
   
   

See the articles Life-like properties observed in a very simple system and About a model for the control of biological body by magnetic body.

For a summary of earlier postings see Latest progress in TGD.

Articles and other material related to TGD.