Surface-attached gels may have provided the structure and chemical environment necessary for life to emerge on Earth — and perhaps on other worlds.

A team of researchers from Japan, Malaysia, the UK, and Germany suggests that life’s earliest steps may have begun with primitive, sticky gels that formed on surfaces long before true cells appeared.

Figure 1. Primitive Gels May Have Sheltered Molecules and Driven Pre-Cellular Chemistry

The results introduce a new perspective on how life may have arisen on Earth and broaden our ideas about what life could look like on other planets. Figure 1 shows Primitive Gels May Have Sheltered Molecules and Driven Pre-Cellular Chemistry.

The study, published in ChemSystemsChem, tackles one of science’s longest-standing mysteries: the origin of life. While the first steps of life can’t be observed directly, scientists continue to construct plausible models based on chemistry, physics, and geology.

“Many origin-of-life theories emphasize biomolecules and biopolymers, but our approach highlights the importance of gels in those earliest steps,” said Tony Z. Jia, a professor at Hiroshima University and co–lead author of the study.

Unveiling the “Gel-First” Model for Early Life

The researchers’ “prebiotic gel-first” model suggests that life may have originated within surface-attached gel-like matrices—sticky, semi-solid materials similar to today’s microbial biofilms. These biofilms, often found on rocks, ponds, and man-made surfaces, offer a modern analogue.

By integrating concepts from soft-matter chemistry with evidence from contemporary biology, the study proposes that these early gels could have supplied the structural and functional support needed for primitive chemical systems to grow more complex well before true cells evolved.

By capturing and organizing molecules, prebiotic gels could have helped resolve major obstacles in early chemistry—enabling molecular concentration, selective retention, and protection from harsh conditions. These structured gels may have supported the emergence of proto-metabolic networks and primitive self-replication, laying the groundwork for later biological evolution.

“This is one hypothesis among many in origin-of-life studies,” noted Kuhan Chandru, research scientist at the Space Science Center, National University of Malaysia (UKM) and co-lead author. “But because gels have often been overlooked, we aimed to bring together disparate findings into a unified framework that highlights their potential importance.”

The researchers also apply this concept to astrobiology, proposing that comparable gel-like structures could form on other worlds [1]. These hypothetical “xeno-films” would act as non-terrestrial counterparts to biofilms, built from whatever chemical ingredients are available locally. This viewpoint widens the strategy for searching for extraterrestrial life by emphasizing that structural patterns—rather than specific molecules—might be key targets for future detection missions.

Next, the team plans to experimentally test their framework by examining how simple-chemical gels could have arisen under early Earth conditions and what functional advantages they might have offered to emerging chemical systems.

“We hope our study encourages others to delve deeper into this and other overlooked theories about life’s origins!” said Ramona Khanum, co-first author and former intern at UKM.

References:

1. https://scitechdaily.com/scientists-uncover-gel-like-structures-that-may-have-sparked-life-on-earth/

Cite this article:

Janani R (2025), Scientists Find Gel-Like Structures That Could Have Kickstarted Life on Earth, AnaTechMaz, pp. 633