Introduction Prebiotic evolution can be defined as the processes that led to the first living cells (ie, the

'origin of life'; ie, evolution prior to life - hence 'prebiotic'). Prebiotic evolution is a difficult topic for science, as very limited physical evidence remains, and there are a number of considerable physical and chemical obstacles that had to be overcome. Although the idea is hard to accept now, it used to be widely believed that living organisms could immediately form from non-living matter. This reasoning was called "spontaneous generation". It was used to explain the sudden appearance of organisms in neglected placesWhy do maggots appear where meat is left to rot? This theory was soon discredited, through several experiments that isolated different samples of such incidents, and discovered that such organisms originated from larvae. In other words, life reproduces from life. The idea that life could only form from life caused many disturbances, particularly among the proponents of the theory of evolution. The theory of evolution supports the idea that spontaneous changes led to more diverse and complex organisms. This would mean that as one gets closer to the source of life, organisms become simpler and finally becomes nonorganic matter, the simpler form of matter. In short, the theory of evolution predicts that life "generated spontaneously" from non-organic matter. The differences between the findings of the experiments and the theory of evolution were not solved until the Russian scientist, A.I. Oparin proposed the prebiotic theory of evolution. Oparin proposed that life formed in a series of steps from non-organic matter. This theory is known as the theory of prebiotic evolution. Prebiotic evolution holds that life originated gradually from interaction between different chemicals in the Earth's atmosphere. These interactions led to the first amino acids, which then formed more complex molecules such as proteins and DNA. These molecules, in turn, combined to perform different functions and created the first proto-cell. One of the reasons that Oparin's theory remains sound, is that as a hypothesis, it could be proved wrong. This led to the first experiment that laid the foundation for Oparin's theory. Theory of Spontaneous Generation spontaneous generation, the hypothetical process by which living organisms develop from nonliving matter; also, the archaic theory that utilized this process to explain the origin of life. According to this theory, pieces of cheese and bread wrapped in rags and left in a dark corner, for example, were thus thought to produce mice, because after several weeks there were mice in the rags. Many believed in spontaneous generation because it explained such occurrences as the appearance of maggots on decaying meat. By the 18th century it had become obvious that higher organisms could not be produced by nonliving material. The origin of microorganisms such as bacteria, however, was not fully determined until Louis Pasteur proved in the 19th century that microorganisms reproduce. For many centuries many people believed in the concept of spontaneous generation, the creation of life from organic matter.

Francesco Redi disproved spontaneous generation for large organisms by showing that maggots arose from meat only when flies laid eggs in the meat. Spontaneous generation for small organisms again gained favor when John Needham showed that if a broth was boiled (presumed to kill all life) and then allowed to sit in the open air, it became cloudy. Lazzaro Spallanzani later repeated the experiments of Needham, but removed air from the flask, suspecting that the air was providing a source of contamination. No growth occurred in Spallanzani's flasks and he took this as evidence that Needham was wrong. Proponents of spontaneous generation discounted the experiment by asserting that air was required for the vital force to work. Louis Pasteur ended the debate with his famous swan-neck flask experiment, which allowed air to contact the broth. Microbes present in the dust were not able to navigate the tortuous bends in the neck of the flask Miller's Experiment Oparin suggested that several chemicals in interaction with the environment led to the building blocks of life. It was left to Stanley Miller and Harold Urey to simulate these hypothetical interactions. The early Earth had a chaotic environment with energetic processes, including lightning, volcanic heat and intense radiation. To simulate these conditions in the laboratory, Miller and Urey used a spark-discharging apparatus. They provided the early atmosphere gases: methane, hydrogen, ammonia and left them to the high-energy spark discharges.

The apparatus that Miller and Urey used to simulate the early stages of life Later, Miller observed that upon on earth. condensation, water had changed colour, and a tar-like substance had formed in the flask. Miller examined the two substances and found several different amino acids, the building blocks of proteins. These results generated great excitement among biologists, and many such experiments were conducted. This list of discovered amino acids grew with new results.

The Primordial Soup Miller's experiment and several others were used to propose the idea of a "primordial soup", a situation were amino acids collected and combined to form more complex molecules. However, for such a situation to occur, there must perfect orientation between amino acids, so that they combine among themselves rather than react with other elements. If the

primordial soup did occur then there had to be many combinations of amino acids to ensure that a fraction of these molecules would combine "properly" with the right activation energy. Given the heavy odds against the formation of amino acids (explained later), the chances of a primordial soup seems very slim. To account for this, Oparin and several others suggested that matter has a tendency for self-organization which guides itself to the formation of organic matter. Limitations The theory that life arose from non-organic matter through various stages has serious limitations, most which result from our limited understanding of the past and the assumptions in Oparin's theory. These limitations include1) Lack or presence of oxygen 2) Amino acid formation 3) Destructive energy Could life have survived with or without oxygen? The amount of oxygen in the early atmosphere is widely disputed. Certain biologists claim that if oxygen was present in the atmosphere, then life would not be able to form, as evidence has shown that oxygen was poisonous to early forms of life. On the other hand, others point to the existence of oxides in minerals, that could not have formed without the presence of oxygen. They claim that geologic evidence shows that the composition of the early atmosphere included oxygen. Miller's experiment explained, if not completely, the formation of amino acids. However, it did not go beyond that. Amino acids are instrumental in producing proteins, which in turn carry out specific functions of a cell. No present cells exist without proteins. The formation of proteins is a much more complex process than that of amino acids, and involves a larger range of variables. So far, such a process has not been successfully reproduced in the laboratory, and therefore brings up more questions about the prebiotic theory. Moreover, if the primordial soup did develop, it had to be sufficiently protected from the destructive energetic processes on the early Earth. Panspermia The term panspermia comes from two Greek words: pan, which means all and sperma, which means seed. term that describes Panspermia is actually an umbrella

any scientific theory that posits that all life as we know it on earth began in outer space. The idea therefore assumes that life exists elsewhere in the universe, perhaps even

abundantly, and that such life was a catalyst to life on earth. Positing that life began in outer space, though, says little. Broadly-defined panspermia can actually be thought of in two ways by scientists. An extreme view of panspermia, also known as cosmic ancestry, contends life has always existed everywhere in the universe. In this view, life was not transported to earth and has no single origin. As the earth was formed in the wake of the Big Bang, living microbes, themselves formed after t took up residence on the new planet. The same process was repeated throughout the universe in countless places. The second view is more common, that earth at one time did not have life, and so the ingredients for life came from elsewhere in space. How living microbes from space came to the earth to spawn terrestrial life as we know it is debated by panspermia theorists. Options once again are categorized in two ways: undirected or non-intelligent panspermia, and directed or intelligent panspermia. Undirected panspermia presumes that the ingredients of life came to earth apart from any sort of intelligence, divine or extraterrestrial. The process was completely random. Directed or intelligent panspermia conjectures that a non-terrestrial intelligence, either divine or extraterrestrial, served as catalyst for the seeding of life. Muchinsons Meteorite Theory The Murchison meteorite is named after Murchison, Victoria, in Australia. It is one of the most studied meteorites due to its large mass (>100 kg), the fact that it was an observed fall, and that it belongs to a group of meteorites rich in organic compounds. Fragments of a chemically primitive meteorite that landed near Murchison, Australia, in 1969 have long been known to harbor a variety of interesting compounds, including dozens of amino acids. But as analytic techniques become more sophisticated, the Murchison meteoritecontinues to reveal even more diversity and complexity in the early solar system.

Muchinsons meteorite Many researchers have analyzed the chondritic meteorite for amino acids and other possible precursors to life, because some theories hold that life on Earth began with the delivery of prebiotic organic compounds from space via asteroids or comets. Murchison is a popular meteorite for study partly because roughly 100 kilograms of its stony fragments were quickly collected in 1969 and so did not suffer from much terrestrial contamination. It carries the signature of the solar system from around the time of the sun's formation, roughly 4.6 billion years ago. Nonetheless, the genetic theory of evolution is an incomplete theory.