Origin of Life: 4 Important Theories Regarding the Origin of Life | Biology

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Some of the major important theories regarding the origin of life are as follows: I. Theory of special
creation II. Abiogenesis or Theory of Spontaneous Creation or Autobiogenesis III. Biogenesis (omne
vivum ex vivo) IV. Cosmozoic or Extraterrestrial or Interplanetary or Panspermiatic theory.

Our earth is a part of the solar system. It is believed that the earth along with other planets of the solar
system originated from cooler and less denser peripheral part of a common nebula.

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Period of origin of earth is proposed to be about 4,500-5,000 million (i.e., 4.5-5 billion) years ago. In the
beginning, it was a spinning ball of hot gases and vapours of elements. But due to gradual cooling, the
gases condensed into molten core and different elements got stratified according to their density.

Theories of Origin of Life:

I. Theory of special creation:

It states:
1. Living organisms were formed on our planet by some supernatural power called God or Creator, so it
believed in divine creation of life.

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2. The living organisms were formed all of a sudden and out of nothing. These are created as such.

3. There was no inter-relationship between these organisms.

4. These have not undergone any change since their formation (Life is immutable).

It was proposed by Hebrew et. al. and was very strongly supported by Father Suarez (1548-1671 A.D.).
According to Christianity, the Bible states that the creator formed all the living organisms about 4004
B.C. within six-natural days— materia prima, heaven and earth on first day; sky was separated from
water on second day; dry land and plants on third day; the sun, the moon and the stars on fourth day;
fish and fowl on fifth day and animals including human beings on sixth day.

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Man was created on the sixth day as Anima rationalis. Bible says that Adam, the first man, was formed
from clay about 6,000 years ago, while first woman, Eve, was formed from one of his ribs. According to
Hindu mythology, Brahma is the God of creation and created various forms of life in one stroke. Manu
and Shraddha were first man and woman on the earth.

This idea has no scientific support. It is further refuted by various evidences of evolution.
II. Abiogenesis or Theory of Spontaneous Creation or Autobiogenesis:

It was proposed by Von Helmont (1577-1644) and states that life originated abiogenetically from non-
living decaying and rotting matter like straw, mud, etc., by spontaneous generation about 3.5 billion
years ago. e.g.,

1. Anaximander (588-524 B.C.) proposed the air as sole cause of life.

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2. Aristotle (384-322 B.C.) proposed that worms, insects, fish, frogs and even mice developed from soil
and filth; tapeworms from excreta of animals; crabs and salamanders from earth and slime.

3. Hair of white horse tail forms living horse-hair worm, Gordius, when dropped into water.

4. The mud of Nile gave rise to living organisms when warmed in sun.

5. Von Helmont proposed that both sexes of mice will be developed when human sweat and wheat are
kept together for 21 days.

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This theory also proposed the formation of insects from dew, frogs and toads from the muddy bottom of
ponds; butterflies from cheese and maggots (larvae of house flies) from decaying meat.

But abiogenesis was experimentally rejected by Francisco Redi (1668 A.D.).

III. Biogenesis (omne vivum ex vivo):

It states life arises from pre-existing life only. The idea of spontaneous generation came to an end with
the experiment of Francisco Redi (1668). He founded the theory of biogenesis.

1. Redi’s experiment:

Francisco Redi (Italian physician) took the flesh and cooked it so that no organisms were left alive. He
placed the flesh in three jars (Fig. 7.2). One jar was covered with parchment, one was covered with
muslin and third one was left open.

Redi's Experiment to Disprove Abiogenesis in Large Animals

The flesh/meat decayed in all the jars and flies were attracted towards all the three jars. He observed
that maggots developed in uncovered jars though the flies visited other jars. The flies entered only the
open jar and laid eggs which produced larvae. This confirms that maggots arise from eggs and not from
decaying meat.

2. Spallanzani’s experiment:

L. Spallanzani (1765 A.D.) poured hay infusion in eight bottles and boiled all of them. Four of them were
loosely corked while other four were made air tight. After few days, he found that there was thick
growth of microbes in all the loosely corked bottles but no organism in the air tight bottles. He
concluded that air contains microbes and new microorganisms arise from existing micro-organisms.
3. Pasteur’s experiment:

Louis Pasteur (1864) showed that minute organisms like protists and bacteria arise from pre-existing
organisms of the same kind. He took a flask almost half filled with sugar and yeast (Fig. 7.3). By heating
he gave S shaped structure to its neck. The contents of swan-necked flask were boiled and tube was
sealed. No life appeared in the flask. But when neck of the flask was broken, micro-organisms appeared.

Louis Pasteur's Experiment showing the Theory of Biogenesis

Spontaneous generation theory was rejected on the basis that it did not answer about the mode of
formation of first life form.

IV. Cosmozoic or Extraterrestrial or Interplanetary or Panspermiatic theory:

It was proposed by Richter (1865 A.D.) and was supported by Arrhenius (1908 A.D.). It states that life
came on the earth from some other planet in the form of seed or spore called panspermia, so is also
called spore theory.

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But it could not explain the mechanism by which panspermia survived adverse conditions (very low
temperature, lack of atmosphere, utter dryness and lethal and UV-cosmic radiations) of interplanetary
space during its migration.

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