IN new paper published in the magazine ChemistrySystemsChemistryHiroshima University professor Tony Jia and colleagues outline the concept of “prebiotic gel first,” which considers how the origin of life could potentially arise in gels attached to a surface. The authors also discuss the potential existence of “xenofilms,” that is, alien biofilm-like structures composed of extraterrestrial—or some terrestrial—building blocks, and highlight the relevance of agnostic life detection strategies in the search for life as we know and do not know it.
An artist's impression of prebiotic gel on the surface of the early Earth. Image credit: Nirmell Sattiyaseelan.
“The question of how life began has puzzled humanity for centuries,” said Professor Jia and co-authors.
“Although no one can go back in time and witness the first spark of life, scientists continue to piece together plausible stories from chemistry, physics and geology.”
“While many theories focus on the functions of biomolecules and biopolymers, our theory instead includes the role of gels in the origin of life.”
In their newly proposed prebiotic gel concept, the researchers suggest how life might have originated within surface-attached gel matrices—sticky, semisolid materials that share properties with today's microbial biofilms, thin layers of bacteria that grow ubiquitously on rocks, pond surfaces, and even man-made objects.
Drawing on soft matter chemistry and ideas from modern biology, they argue that such primitive gels could provide the necessary structure and function for early chemical systems to become increasingly complex, long before the first cells appeared.
By trapping and organizing molecules, prebiotic gels may overcome key barriers in pre-life chemistry by providing molecular concentration, selective retention, and environmental buffering.
Within these gels, early chemical systems could develop protometabolic and self-replicating behavior, setting the stage for biological evolution.
“This is just one of many theories in the vast field of origin of life research,” said Dr Kuhan Chandru, a researcher at the National University of Malaysia's Center for Space Science.
“However, since the role of gels has been largely overlooked, we wanted to combine disparate studies into a coherent narrative that puts primitive gels at the forefront of the debate.”
Scientists have extended this idea to astrobiology, suggesting that similar gel-like systems may exist on other planets.
These potential “xenofilms” may be extraterrestrial analogues of biofilms, consisting of different chemical building blocks uniquely available in each region.
This view broadens the scope of how astrobiologists search for life beyond Earth, suggesting that perhaps the next target of life-detection missions could be structures rather than specific chemicals.
The authors now plan to explore their model experimentally, studying how such gels, consisting of simple chemicals, could have formed under the conditions of the early Earth and what properties these gels could have imparted to the emerging chemical systems.
“We also hope that our work will inspire others in the field to further explore this and other little-studied theories about the origin of life,” said Dr Ramona Khanum, also from the National University of Malaysia's Space Science Centre.
_____
Ramona Khanum etc.. Prebiotic gels as the cradle of life. ChemistrySystemsChempublished online November 19, 2025; doi: 10.1002/syst.202500038
