Hydrothermal Simulation Experiments as a Tool for Studies of the Origin of Life on Earth and Other Terrestrial Planets: A Review

Astrobiology ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 444-460 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nils G. Holm ◽  
Eva Andersson
Keyword(s):  
Origin Of Life ◽  
Terrestrial Planets ◽  
Simulation Experiments ◽  
The Origin Of Life ◽  
Life On Earth

scholarly journals ‘Whole Organism’, Systems Biology, and Top-Down Criteria for Evaluating Scenarios for the Origin of Life

Life ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 690
Author(s):  
Clifford F. Brunk ◽  
Charles R. Marshall
Keyword(s):  
Origin Of Life ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Chemical Systems ◽  
Biochemical Pathways ◽  
The Origin Of Life ◽  
Energy And Material Flows ◽  
Complex Scenario ◽  
Life On Earth ◽  
Physical Laws ◽  
Equilibrium Chemical

While most advances in the study of the origin of life on Earth (OoLoE) are piecemeal, tested against the laws of chemistry and physics, ultimately the goal is to develop an overall scenario for life’s origin(s). However, the dimensionality of non-equilibrium chemical systems, from the range of possible boundary conditions and chemical interactions, renders the application of chemical and physical laws difficult. Here we outline a set of simple criteria for evaluating OoLoE scenarios. These include the need for containment, steady energy and material flows, and structured spatial heterogeneity from the outset. The Principle of Continuity, the fact that all life today was derived from first life, suggests favoring scenarios with fewer non-analog (not seen in life today) to analog (seen in life today) transitions in the inferred first biochemical pathways. Top-down data also indicate that a complex metabolism predated ribozymes and enzymes, and that full cellular autonomy and motility occurred post-LUCA. Using these criteria, we find the alkaline hydrothermal vent microchamber complex scenario with a late evolving exploitation of the natural occurring pH (or Na+ gradient) by ATP synthase the most compelling. However, there are as yet so many unknowns, we also advocate for the continued development of as many plausible scenarios as possible.

What is life?

1997 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Maynard Smith ◽  
Eors Szathmary
Keyword(s):  
Natural Selection ◽  
Origin Of Life ◽  
Definition Of Life ◽  
The Sun ◽  
Physical Processes ◽  
Living Things ◽  
Survival And Reproduction ◽  
The Origin Of Life ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Life On Earth

Imagine that, when the first spacemen step out of their craft onto the surface of one of the moons of Jupiter, they are confronted by an object the size of a horse, rolling towards them on wheels, and bearing on its back a concave disc pointing towards the Sun. They will at once conclude that the object is alive, or has been made by something alive. If all they find is a purple smear on the surface of the rocks, they will have to work harder to decide. This is the phenotypic approach to the definition of life: a thing is alive if it has parts, or ‘organs’, which perform functions. William Paley explained the machine-like nature of life by the existence of a creator: today, we would invoke natural selection. There are, however, dangers in assuming that any entity with the properties of a self-regulating machine is alive, or an artefact. In section 2.2, we tell the story of a self-regulating atomic reactor, the Oklo reactor, which is neither. This story can be taken in one of three ways. First, it shows the dangers of the phenotypic definition of life: not all complex entities are alive. Second, it illustrates how the accidents of history can give rise spontaneously to surprisingly complex machine-like entities. The relevance of this to the origin of life is obvious. In essence, the problem is the following. How could chemical and physical processes give rise, without natural selection, to entities capable of hereditary replication, which would therefore, from then on, evolve by natural selection? The Oklo reactor is an example of what can happen. Finally, section 2.2 can simply be skipped: the events were interesting, but do not resemble in detail those that led to the origin of life on Earth. There is an alternative to the phenotypic definition of life. It is to define as alive any entities that have the properties of multiplication, variation and heredity. The logic behind this definition, first proposed by Muller (1966), is that a population of entities with these properties will evolve by natural selection, and hence can be expected to acquire the complex adaptations for survival and reproduction that are characteristic of living things.

The Origin of Life on Earth and in the Universe

2006 ◽  
pp. 147-198
Author(s):  
Jordi Llorca ◽  
Malcolm E. Schrader ◽  
Pasquale Stano ◽  
Francesca Ferri ◽  
Pier Luigi Luisi
Keyword(s):  
Origin Of Life ◽  
The Origin Of Life ◽  
Life On Earth ◽  
The Universe

scholarly journals DATING THE ORIGIN OF LIFE ON EARTH

Evolution ◽  
1959 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 416-418 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael H. Briggs
Keyword(s):  
Origin Of Life ◽  
The Origin Of Life ◽  
Life On Earth

Panspermia in the context of the timing of the origin of life and microbial phylogeny

2007 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 249-254 ◽  
Author(s):  
M.A. Line
Keyword(s):  
Origin Of Life ◽  
Deep Level ◽  
Bacterial Metabolism ◽  
Phylogenetic Studies ◽  
Radiation Resistant ◽  
Physical Information ◽  
Insufficient Time ◽  
Microbial Genomic ◽  
The Origin Of Life ◽  
Life On Earth

AbstractThe synthesis of physical information on early Earth (or Mars) with recent knowledge arising from microbial genomic, proteomic and phylogenetic studies, strongly indicates that there was insufficient time (∼600 000 years) for life to arise and evolve to reach the biochemical complexity evident within the Last Common Community (LCC). If recent strong evidence of fossil cyanobacteria in carbonaceous meteorites is accepted, then the LCC would have existed prior to the origin of life on Earth and the planet would then have been seeded with representatives of the three domains once it became habitable. The existence of intermittently active cyanobacteria in comets opens the possibility for the evolution of microaerobic bacterial metabolism, elements of which appear at a deep level of the microbial phylogeny, at or below the depth of the LCC. It is also notable from a panspermia perspective that recent phylogenetic evidence indicates that the Gram-positive lineage (representatives of which are endowed with long-lived radiation-resistant spores) lies at the deepest level of domain Bacteria, with Archaea and Eukarya evolving from this lineage probably before 3.6 Gigayears ago (Gya).

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