Theories on the ORIGIN OF LIFE

Basic enigma of life: HOW DID LIFE ARISE ON EARTH?

Nothing is directly known about the origin of life, the answer

to this question are exceedingly complex and at best only
tentative.

 Theories of the origin of life: Still a

matter of speculation

 Several intelligent explanations

account for the origin of life on earth
1.THEORY OF SPECIAL CREATION

Religion
Mythology
Philosophy

The origin of life must be attributed to an

agency outside nature called a creator.
support or acceptance mostly
due to faith rather than
experimental or scientific
evidences.
Supporters recently created a
new discipline called “creation
science”.
 2. Cosmozoic or Interplanetary
 Proposed that universe started from a primeval fireball and had
been expanding and cooling since its inception 10-20 billion years
ago (bya).
 Life originated from outer planets in the form of a resistant spore
(cosmozoa) propelled by radiation pressure, reached earth and
started the first form of life.

The cosmozoic theory speculates that life

arrived on Earth as bacterial spores,
perhaps enclosed in a comet.

Idea was proposed by Richter in

1865. The theory did not gain any
support. Needs evidence for the
existence of ET life.
3. ABIOGENESIS (SPONTANEOUS GENERATION)
600 BC up to 2nd half of 19th century – believed that life could arise
spontaneously from nonliving substances.

Living organisms originated in sea lime under the influence of

factors in the environment s.a. heat, air, sun.

The origin of life without apparent cause

Thales (624-548 BC) ---“oceanic

water was the mother from which all
living forms originated”.
3. ABIOGENESIS (SPONTANEOUS GENERATION)
Empedocles (540-433 BC) ---“life
originated by itself from non living matter
and imperfect forms were replaced by
perfect forms”

Aristotle (384-322 BC)--- proposed

that living forms are animated forms of
non-living matter.
-Vital forces operate constantly and Aristotle’s Hypothesis
improve the living world
3. ABIOGENESIS (SPONTANEOUS GENERATION)
Van Helmont’s Hypothesis

Middle of 17th century, He

published an account of 21 day
experiment w/c added to the
concept of Abiogenesis.

Wheat grains placed in a dirty shirt for 21 days will give rise to mice.

Active principle was human sweat converting the wheat grains into mice.
 4. Biogenesis Theory
Biogenesis. Every living thing on earth is the offspring of other living things.
“Life comes from life” is referred to as the law of biogenesis, which asserts that
modern organisms do not spontaneously arise in nature from non-life.

Working hypothesis: life arose from pre-existing life

Louis Pasteur
Anton van Leeuwenhoek
Believed that microorganisms arose
from pre-existing organisms.

Francisco Redi
Louis Pasteur was the first to  opposed abiogenesis
be able to prove this theory  proposed that life could arise only
proposed that the organisms from pre-existing living things (thru
that are not visible to the experiment) .
naked eye are present in air.
 Redi’s Experiment
OBSERVATIONS: Flies land on meat that is left uncovered. Later, maggots appear
on the meat.

HYPOTHESIS: Flies produce maggots.

PROCEDURE

Controlled Variables: jars,

type of meat, location,
temperature, time

Manipulated Variables:
gauze covering that keeps
flies away from meat

Responding Variable:
whether maggots appear

CONCLUSION: Maggots form only when flies come in contact with meat.
Spontaneous generation of maggots did not occur.
 Pasteur’s Experiment

Broth is boiled. Broth is free of Curved neck Broth is

microorganisms is removed. teeming with
for a year. microorganisms
.

demonstrated that fermentation is caused by the growth

of micro-organisms, and that the emergent growth of bacteria in
nutrient broths is not due to spontaneous generation
 5. Physico-chemical or coacervate droplet
theory (Oparin and Haldane)
 Chemical evolution:
1. Formation of simple organic compounds
the primitive inorganic molecules of earth interacted and combined with one
another to form simple organic compounds. These were in the form of simple
sugars, fatty acids, glycerol, amino acids and nitrogen bases.
Primitive atmosphere:
• Water vapor formed
clouds resulting to
continuous rainfall.
• It filled hollows and
basins of Earth’s crust-
oceans.
• Water in oceans
contained ammonia
and methane.
• Compounds reacted
among themselves,
forming organic
compounds (C-C
linkages).
 2. Formation of complex organic compounds
-Simple sugars combined, form complex polysaccharides (starch,
cellulose). Fatty acids and glycerol molecules combined to form
lipids. Amino acids combined forming polypeptides and proteins.
-Purines and pyrimidines combined with simple sugars and phosphates
to form nucleotides, which then formed nucleic acids.

Harold C. Urey and Stanley L. Miller

(1953) – conducted an experiment
simulating the primitive condition of the
Earth.
− discovered that a variety of amino
acids and organic acids were formed
Urey-Miller hypothesis
 In 1950’s proposed that amino
acids can be synthesized
outside living systems.
 They conducted experiments in
which a gas mixture containing
hydrogen, ammonia, methane
and water vapor was subjected
to electric spark.
 It yielded aldehydes, amino
acids and carboxylic acids.
 3. Formation of molecular aggregates (Coacervates):
•Oparin and Fox proposed that the complex organic molecules
synthesized abiotically on the primitive earth formed large spherical
aggregates as cluster of complex organic molecules bound by fatty
acids and divide.
•They remained suspended as droplets in sea water
4.Formation of first primitive living cell:
 Natural or Marine (Primeval Soup)
 Proposed that life did not originate in the surface of the
earth but deep beneath the sea in or around hydrothermal
vents.

In 1929 by J.B.S. Haldane;

suggested that life was
the result of UV radiation
converting methane,
ammonia and water into
the first organic
compounds in the early
earth oceans.