scholarly journals RNA networks at the origins of life

2016 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 8-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica A.M. Yeates ◽  
Niles Lehman
Keyword(s):  
Origin Of Life ◽  
Molecular Species ◽  
Origins Of Life ◽  
Chemical Processes ◽  
Experimental Support ◽  
Complex Interactions ◽  
The Origin Of Life ◽  
Inorganic Molecules ◽  
Physical And Chemical

The origin of life has often been viewed as the advent of a single self-replicating molecular species, such as RNA. We propose a somewhat different approach in that a network of co-operating molecules could have kick-started life. This view has both theoretical and experimental support. The foundations for life, as we understand it on our planet, began some 4.5 billion years ago with the formation of the Earth1 and by 4.0 billion years ago evidence for the presence of life existed. Within that timeframe, physical and chemical processes would have produced increasingly more complex interactions, moving from simple inorganic molecules to biopolymers capable of replication and variation. In order to answer the question of how life originated and to even understand what life is, empirical proof-ofconcept simple abiotic pathways demonstrating these transitions are needed. In this article, we discuss how networks of molecules, rather than single replicating molecular species, is an emerging view that may unlock some longstanding problems in the origins field.

scholarly journals An optimal degree of physical and chemical heterogeneity for the origin of life?

2011 ◽  
Vol 366 (1580) ◽  
pp. 2894-2901 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jack W. Szostak
Keyword(s):  
Nucleic Acid ◽  
Origin Of Life ◽  
Self Assembly ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
Reaction Products ◽  
Amphiphilic Molecules ◽  
Essential Components ◽  
The Origin Of Life ◽  
Chemical Inputs ◽  
Physical And Chemical

The accumulation of pure, concentrated chemical building blocks, from which the essential components of protocells could be assembled, has long been viewed as a necessary, but extremely difficult step on the pathway to the origin of life. However, recent experiments have shown that moderately increasing the complexity of a set of chemical inputs can in some cases lead to a dramatic simplification of the resulting reaction products. Similarly, model protocell membranes composed of certain mixtures of amphiphilic molecules have superior physical properties than membranes composed of single amphiphiles. Moreover, membrane self-assembly under simple and natural conditions gives rise to heterogeneous mixtures of large multi-lamellar vesicles, which are predisposed to a robust pathway of growth and division that simpler and more homogeneous small unilamellar vesicles cannot undergo. Might a similar relaxation of the constraints on building block purity and homogeneity actually facilitate the difficult process of nucleic acid replication? Several arguments suggest that mixtures of monomers and short oligonucleotides may enable the chemical copying of polynucleotides of sufficient length and sequence complexity to allow for the emergence of the first nucleic acid catalysts. The question of the origin of life may become less daunting once the constraints of overly well-defined laboratory experiments are appropriately relaxed.

Understanding Life: A Bioinformatics Perspective

2016 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 231-245 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natalia Szostak ◽  
Szymon Wasik ◽  
Jacek Blazewicz
Keyword(s):  
Origin Of Life ◽  
Rna World ◽  
Origins Of Life ◽  
Life Itself ◽  
Wet Lab ◽  
The Origin Of Life ◽  
To Come ◽  
World Hypothesis ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Rna World Hypothesis

According to some hypotheses, from a statistical perspective the origin of life seems to be a highly improbable event. Although there is no rigid definition of life itself, life as it is, is a fact. One of the most recognized hypotheses for the origins of life is the RNA world hypothesis. Laboratory experiments have been conducted to prove some assumptions of the RNA world hypothesis. However, despite some success in the ‘wet-lab’, we are still far from a complete explanation. Bioinformatics, supported by biomathematics, appears to provide the perfect tools to model and test various scenarios of the origins of life where wet-lab experiments cannot reflect the true complexity of the problem. Bioinformatics simulations of early pre-living systems may give us clues to the mechanisms of evolution. Whether or not this approach succeeds is still an open question. However, it seems likely that linking efforts and knowledge from the various fields of science into a holistic bioinformatics perspective offers the opportunity to come one step closer to a solution to the question of the origin of life, which is one of the greatest mysteries of humankind. This paper illustrates some recent advancements in this area and points out possible directions for further research.

scholarly journals Conceptualizing the origin of life in terms of evolution

2017 ◽  
Vol 375 (2109) ◽  
pp. 20160346 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. Takeuchi ◽  
P. Hogeweg ◽  
K. Kaneko
Keyword(s):  
Origin Of Life ◽  
Origins Of Life ◽  
Darwinian Evolution ◽  
Chemical System ◽  
Crucial Question ◽  
Opinion Piece ◽  
Ongoing Work ◽  
The Origin Of Life ◽  
Multi Level ◽  
Emergence Of Life

In this opinion piece, we discuss how to place evolution in the context of origin-of-life research. Our discussion starts with a popular definition: ‘life is a self-sustained chemical system capable of undergoing Darwinian evolution’. According to this definition, the origin of life is the same as the origin of evolution: evolution is the ‘end’ of the origin of life. This perspective, however, has a limitation, in that the ability of evolution in and of itself is insufficient to explain the origin of life as we know it, as indicated by Spiegelman’s and Lincoln and Joyce’s experiments. This limitation provokes a crucial question: What conditions are required for replicating systems to evolve into life? From this perspective, the origin of life includes the emergence of life through evolution: evolution is a ‘means’ of the origin of life. After reviewing Eigen’s pioneering work on this question, we mention our ongoing work suggesting that a key condition might be conflicting multi-level evolution. Taken together, there are thus two questions regarding the origin of life: how evolution gets started, and how evolution produces life. Evolution is, therefore, at the centre of the origin of life, where the two lines of enquiry must meet. This article is part of the themed issue ‘Reconceptualizing the origins of life’.

Autocatalysis in Chemistry and the Origin of Life

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
John F. Padgett
Keyword(s):  
Origin Of Life ◽  
Scientific Literature ◽  
Origins Of Life ◽  
Formal Modeling ◽  
Formal Models ◽  
Extensive Review ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Lively Debate ◽  
The Origin Of Life ◽  
Breaking Work

This chapter provides an extensive review of the biochemistry literature on the origins of life where the concept of autocatalysis figures most prominently. There is a lively debate in the scientific literature between scientists who subscribe to an RNA-first hypothesis and scientists who subscribe to a metabolism-first hypothesis about the origin of life. Both are different versions of autocatalysis, and a sensible conclusion could be that biological life really took off when a symbiosis developed between the two. After that, the chapter reviews past formal modeling in this area, which is spotty but highly suggestive. The chapter identifies Eigen's and Schuster's model of hypercycles as the path-breaking work that first placed empirical chemistry and formal models into fruitful dialogue with each other. Finally, the chapter reviews a less successful, more philosophical descendant of autocatalysis called autopoiesis, which is the guise under which autocatalysis first was presented to social scientists.

scholarly journals Molecules in Novae and Supernovae

1992 ◽  
Vol 150 ◽  
pp. 365-370
Author(s):  
J.M.C. Rawlings
Keyword(s):  
Molecular Species ◽  
Chemical Processes ◽  
Detailed Understanding ◽  
Great Insight ◽  
Chemical Conditions ◽  
Physical And Chemical ◽  
Insight Into

Molecular observations and models of the chemical processes in the ejecta of novae and supernovae are reviewed. Although only a few molecular species have been identified, the information that they give has provided great insight into the physical and chemical conditions. We now have quite a detailed understanding of the processes at work in both novae and supernovae.

scholarly journals In Medias Res: A Resolution of Some False Dichotomies in Origins of Life Research

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donald Frohlich ◽  
Richard Austin Choate
Keyword(s):  
Origin Of Life ◽  
Body Problem ◽  
Scientific Research ◽  
Origins Of Life ◽  
Definition Of Life ◽  
First Case ◽  
The Origin Of Life ◽  
Mind Body Problem ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Mind

In this paper, we address some of the false dichotomies that pervade contemporary scientific and philosophical research about the origin of life. These dichotomies can be divided into two categories, the methodological and the conceptual. In the first case, we focus on providing an alternative to the problems and paradoxes which arise from trying to eliminate a definition of life from scientific research into life’s origins. In the second case, we illustrate how origin of life research is confined by the same conceptual paradigm which continues to plague the mind-body problem. Based on this analysis, we then offer some general criteria that a definition of life should meet.

scholarly journals Montmorillonite-catalysed formation of RNA oligomers: the possible role of catalysis in the origins of life

2006 ◽  
Vol 361 (1474) ◽  
pp. 1777-1786 ◽  
Author(s):  
James P Ferris
Keyword(s):  
Origin Of Life ◽  
Volcanic Ash ◽  
Origins Of Life ◽  
Reaction Conditions ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Rna Oligomers ◽  
The Origin Of Life ◽  
Large Deposits

Large deposits of montmorillonite are present on the Earth today and it is believed to have been present at the time of the origin of life and has recently been detected on Mars. It is formed by aqueous weathering of volcanic ash. It catalyses the formation of oligomers of RNA that contain monomer units from 2 to 30–50. Oligomers of this length are formed because this catalyst controls the structure of the oligomers formed and does not generate all possible isomers. Evidence of sequence-, regio- and homochiral selectivity in these oligomers has been obtained. Postulates on the role of selective versus specific catalysts on the origins of life are discussed. An introduction to the origin of life is given with an emphasis on reaction conditions based on the recent data obtained from zircons 4.0–4.5 Ga.

scholarly journals The origin of life: what we know, what we can know and what we will never know

Open Biology ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 120190 ◽  
Author(s):  
Addy Pross ◽  
Robert Pascal
Keyword(s):  
Origin Of Life ◽  
Systems Chemistry ◽  
Dynamic Kinetic Stability ◽  
Underlying Principle ◽  
The Origin Of Life ◽  
The Stability ◽  
The Many ◽  
In The Mists ◽  
Physical And Chemical ◽  
Scientific Questions

The origin of life (OOL) problem remains one of the more challenging scientific questions of all time. In this essay, we propose that following recent experimental and theoretical advances in systems chemistry, the underlying principle governing the emergence of life on the Earth can in its broadest sense be specified, and may be stated as follows: all stable (persistent) replicating systems will tend to evolve over time towards systems of greater stability. The stability kind referred to, however, is dynamic kinetic stability, and quite distinct from the traditional thermodynamic stability which conventionally dominates physical and chemical thinking. Significantly, that stability kind is generally found to be enhanced by increasing complexification, since added features in the replicating system that improve replication efficiency will be reproduced, thereby offering an explanation for the emergence of life's extraordinary complexity. On the basis of that simple principle, a fundamental reassessment of the underlying chemistry–biology relationship is possible, one with broad ramifications. In the context of the OOL question, this novel perspective can assist in clarifying central ahistoric aspects of abiogenesis, as opposed to the many historic aspects that have probably been forever lost in the mists of time.

The Nature of Nature

1993 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 163-177
Author(s):  
William R. Marty ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Natural Selection ◽  
Origin Of Life ◽  
Origins Of Life ◽  
Central Issue ◽  
Philosophical Investigations ◽  
Life Itself ◽  
Biological World ◽  
The Origin Of Life ◽  
Vexed Question

Recent scientific and philosophical investigations have re-opened the question of the adequacy of a non-teleological view of nature. This essay examines the puzzling status of humanity itself within nature, the vexed question of whether the Darwinian principle of evolution through chance mutation, combined with natural selection, can account for what we know of biological life, and the extraordinary implausibility of any nonteleological explanation of the origins of life. The central issue is what can be accomplished by chance mutation and natural selection. The greatest mystery of all is the origin of life itself. The probabilities of life appearing by chance are so infinitesimal that some conclude that life could not have originated on earth. The biological world as we know it still appears to require prodigies of miracle.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document