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’.

General discussion after session V

1988 ◽  
Vol 325 (1587) ◽  
pp. 611-618 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Origin Of Life ◽  
Time Perspective ◽  
Applied Mathematics ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
Living Systems ◽  
Organic Chemical ◽  
General Terms ◽  
The Earth ◽  
The Origin Of Life ◽  
Emergence Of Life

N. C. Wickramasinghe ( Department of Applied Mathematics and Astronomy, University College, Cardiff, U. K. ). The question of the origin of life is, of course, one of the most important scientific questions and it is also one of the most difficult. One is inevitably faced here with a situation where there are very few empirical facts of direct relevance and perhaps no facts relating to the actual transition from organic material to material that can even remotely be described as living. The time perspective of events that relate to this problem has already been presented by Dr Chang. Uncertainty still persists as to the actual first moment of the origin or the emergence of life on the Earth. At some time between 3800 and 3300 Ma BP the first microscopic living systems seem to have emerged. There is a definite moment in time corresponding to a sudden appearance of cellular-type living systems. Now, traditionally the evolution of carbonaceous compounds which led to the emergence of life on Earth could be divided into three principal steps and I shall just remind you what those steps are. The first step is the production of chemical building blocks that lead to the origin of the organic molecules necessary as a prerequisite for the evolution of life. Step two can be described in general terms as prebiotic evolution, the arrangement of these chemical units into some kind of sequence of precursor systems that come almost up to life but not quite; and then stage three is the early biological evolution which actually effects the transition from proto-cellular organic-type forms into truly cellular living systems. The transition is from organic chemistry, prebiotic chemistry to biochemistry. Those are the three principal stages that have been defined by traditional workers in the field, the people who, as Dr Chang said, have had the courage to make these queries and attempt to answer them. Ever since the classic experiments where organic materials were synthesized in the laboratory a few decades back, it was thought that the first step, the production of organic chemical units, is important for the origin of life on the Earth, and that this had to take place in some location on the Earth itself.

The sulfocyanic theory on the origin of life: towards a critical reappraisal of an autotrophic theory

2003 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 301-306 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Perezgasga ◽  
E. Silva ◽  
A. Lazcano ◽  
A. Negrón-Mendoza
Keyword(s):  
Amino Acids ◽  
Origin Of Life ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
Total Yield ◽  
Historical Analysis ◽  
Preliminary Identification ◽  
Chemical Significance ◽  
The Origin Of Life ◽  
Materials Used ◽  
Emergence Of Life

In the early 1930s, Alfonso L. Herrera proposed his so-called sulfocyanic theory on the origin of life, an autotrophic proposal on the first living beings according to which NH4SCN and H2CO acted as raw materials for the synthesis of bio-organic compounds inside primordial photosynthetic protoplasmic structures. Although the work of Herrera is frequently cited in historical analysis of the development of the origin of life studies, very little attention has been given to the chemical significance of the reactions he published. In this paper we report the results of our search for amino acids obtained from a reactive mixture used by Herrera from 1933 onwards. Chromatograms using the high-pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) technique suggest the presence of several amino acids, the total yield being 2% of the initial thiocyanate used. Preliminary identification based on HPLC retention times suggests the presence of glycine, alanine, cysteine and methionine. Alanine was the most abundant amino acid in all samples of fractionated material analysed. Although the starting materials used by Herrera were determined by his autotrophic hypothesis on the origin of cells, our results show that his experiments may provide insights into the abiotic synthesis of sulfur-containing amino acids within the framework of a heterotrophic emergence of life.

scholarly journals Viroids and the Origin of Life

2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (7) ◽  
pp. 3476
Author(s):  
Karin Moelling ◽  
Felix Broecker
Keyword(s):  
Origin Of Life ◽  
Circular Rna ◽  
Essential Elements ◽  
Darwinian Evolution ◽  
Catalytic Rna ◽  
Current Evidence ◽  
Rna Molecules ◽  
Basic Functions ◽  
The Origin Of Life ◽  
Life On Earth

Viroids are non-coding circular RNA molecules with rod-like or branched structures. They are often ribozymes, characterized by catalytic RNA. They can perform many basic functions of life and may have played a role in evolution since the beginning of life on Earth. They can cleave, join, replicate, and undergo Darwinian evolution. Furthermore, ribozymes are the essential elements for protein synthesis of cellular organisms as parts of ribosomes. Thus, they must have preceded DNA and proteins during evolution. Here, we discuss the current evidence for viroids or viroid-like RNAs as a likely origin of life on Earth. As such, they may also be considered as models for life on other planets or moons in the solar system as well as on exoplanets.

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 Prebiotic chemistry: a new modus operandi

2011 ◽  
Vol 366 (1580) ◽  
pp. 2870-2877 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew W. Powner ◽  
John D. Sutherland
Keyword(s):  
Origin Of Life ◽  
Early Life ◽  
Rna World ◽  
Origins Of Life ◽  
Geochemical Conditions ◽  
Systems Chemistry ◽  
Novel Approach ◽  
Sequential Addition ◽  
World Hypothesis ◽  
Emergence Of Life

A variety of macromolecules and small molecules—(oligo)nucleotides, proteins, lipids and metabolites—are collectively considered essential to early life. However, previous schemes for the origin of life—e.g. the ‘RNA world’ hypothesis—have tended to assume the initial emergence of life based on one such molecular class followed by the sequential addition of the others, rather than the emergence of life based on a mixture of all the classes of molecules. This view is in part due to the perceived implausibility of multi-component reaction chemistry producing such a mixture. The concept of systems chemistry challenges such preconceptions by suggesting the possibility of molecular synergism in complex mixtures. If a systems chemistry method to make mixtures of all the classes of molecules considered essential for early life were to be discovered, the significant conceptual difficulties associated with pure RNA, protein, lipid or metabolism ‘worlds’ would be alleviated. Knowledge of the geochemical conditions conducive to the chemical origins of life is crucial, but cannot be inferred from a planetary sciences approach alone. Instead, insights from the organic reactivity of analytically accessible chemical subsystems can inform the search for the relevant geochemical conditions. If the common set of conditions under which these subsystems work productively, and compatibly, matches plausible geochemistry, an origins of life scenario can be inferred. Using chemical clues from multiple subsystems in this way is akin to triangulation, and constitutes a novel approach to discover the circumstances surrounding the transition from chemistry to biology. Here, we exemplify this strategy by finding common conditions under which chemical subsystems generate nucleotides and lipids in a compatible and potentially synergistic way. The conditions hint at a post-meteoritic impact origin of life scenario.

scholarly journals The ATP Hypothesis: A New Conceptual Framework for the Origin of the Genetic Code

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ping Xie
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Code ◽  
Origin Of Life ◽  
Feedback Loop ◽  
Darwinian Evolution ◽  
Reciprocal Causation ◽  
Cellular Life ◽  
Biochemical Systems ◽  
The Origin Of Life ◽  
Triplet Codon ◽  
Life On Earth

The origin of the genetic code is the key to revealing the origin of life on Earth, as it is a prerequisite for the existence of life. More than half a century has passed since the discovery of the genetic code, but its origin is still one of the greatest mysteries. Is the origin of the genetic code truly unknowable? Does the code truly require external design? Here, a hypothesis is proposed, according to which ATP is at the origin of the genetic code by its coevolution with the pristine biochemical system. ATP has several properties that make it suitable as a plausible initiator of the genetic code. First, ATP is the only energetic product of photosynthesis. Second, ATP is at the heart of the extant biochemical systems. Third, ATP serves as a carrier of both energy and information. Fourth, ATP could energetically elongate chains of both polynucleotides and polypeptides, thus providing a bridge between these molecules and eventually mediating prebiotic biochemical innovation from energy transformation to informatization. This hypothesis shows how primitive life emerged through a series of processes from energy to information flow mediated by ATP. Informatization (processes for creating and managing information) was inevitably coupled with structuralization (processes for organizing or incorporating cellular structures), cyclizing polynucleotides and polypeptides into a feedback loop of reciprocal causation. The triplet codon might be only for stereochemical handling of amino acids through, e.g., Watson–Crick pairing interactions. It is only the evolutionary completion of the genetic code from RNA to DNA that, contrary to the central dogma, marked the dawn of cellular life, when Darwinian evolution began to operate. The ATP hypothesis sheds light on the origin of life, together with the formation of both photosynthetic and biochemical systems, which remains largely unknown thus far.

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.

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 Geochemistry and the Origin of Life: From Extraterrestrial Processes, Chemical Evolution on Earth, Fossilized Life’s Records, to Natures of the Extant Life

Life ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 39 ◽  
Author(s):  
Satoru Nakashima ◽  
Yoko Kebukawa ◽  
Norio Kitadai ◽  
Motoko Igisu ◽  
Natsuki Matsuoka
Keyword(s):  
Origin Of Life ◽  
Chemical Evolution ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
Spectroscopic Studies ◽  
Research Progress ◽  
Complex Nature ◽  
Water Molecules ◽  
Evolution Of Life ◽  
The Origin Of Life ◽  
Emergence Of Life

In 2001, the first author (S.N.) led the publication of a book entitled “Geochemistry and the origin of life” in collaboration with Dr. Andre Brack aiming to figure out geo- and astro-chemical processes essential for the emergence of life. Since then, a great number of research progress has been achieved in the relevant topics from our group and others, ranging from the extraterrestrial inputs of life’s building blocks, the chemical evolution on Earth with the aid of mineral catalysts, to the fossilized records of ancient microorganisms. Here, in addition to summarizing these findings for the origin and early evolution of life, we propose a new hypothesis for the generation and co-evolution of photosynthesis with the redox and photochemical conditions on the Earth’s surface. Besides these bottom-up approaches, we introduce an experimental study on the role of water molecules in the life’s function, focusing on the transition from live, dormant, and dead states through dehydration/hydration. Further spectroscopic studies on the hydrogen bonding behaviors of water molecules in living cells will provide important clues to solve the complex nature of life.

scholarly journals Astrobiology: Towards an Understanding of the Emergence of Life in the Universe

2004 ◽  
Vol 213 ◽  
pp. 245-254 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antonio Lazcano
Keyword(s):  
Origin Of Life ◽  
Evolutionary Biology ◽  
Living Systems ◽  
Spontaneous Generation ◽  
Terrestrial Environment ◽  
Random Events ◽  
The Origin Of Life ◽  
Emergence Of Life ◽  
Considerable Detail ◽  
The Universe

Long before the idea of spontaneous generation was incorporated by JeanBaptiste de Lamarck into evolutionary biology to explain the first emergence of life, the possibility that other planets were inhabited had been discussed, sometimes in considerable detail, by scientists and philosophers alike (Lazcano 2001). More often than not, these were speculations that rested on the idea of a uniform universe but with little or no empirical basis. Today our approaches to the issue of life in the Universe have changed dramatically; neither the formation of planets nor the origin of life are seen as the result of inscrutable random events, but rather as natural outcomes of evolutionary events. The interconnection between these two processes is evident: understanding the formation of planets has major implications for our understanding of the early terrestrial environment, and therefore for the origin of living systems.

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