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Abiogenesis
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biogenesis -- Britamica Online Encyclopedia
abiogenesis, the idea that life arose from nonlife
more than 3.5 billion years ago on Earth. Abiogenesis
proposes that the first life-forms generated were very
simple and through a gradual process became
increasingly complex, Biogenesis, in which life Is
derived from the reproduction of other life, was
presumably preceded by abiogenesis, which became
impossible once Earth’s atmosphere assumed its
present composition.
Although many equate abiogenesis with the archaic
theory of spontaneous generation, the two ideas are
quite different. According to the latter, complex life
(eg. a maggot or mouse) was thought to arise
spontaneously and continually from nonliving matter.
While the hypothetical process af spontaneous
generation was disproved as early as the 17th century
and decisively rejected in the 19th century,
Yellowstone biogenesis has been neither proved nor disproved.
The Oparin-Haldane theory
Inthe 1920s British scientist LB.S. Haldane and Russian blochemist Aleksandr Oparin
independently set forth similar ideas concerning the conditions required for the origin of life on
Earth, Both believed that organic molecules could be formed from abiogenic materials in the
presence of an external energy source (eg, ultraviolet radiation) and that the primitive
atmosphere was reducing (having very low amounts of free oxygen) and contained ammonia and
water vapour, mong other gases. Both also suspected that the first life-forms appeared in the
warm, primitive ocean and were heterotrophic (obtaining preformed nutrients from the
compounds in existence on early Earth) rather than autotrophic (generating food and nutrients
from sunlight or inorganic materials),
‘Oparin believed that life developed from coacervates, microscopic spontaneously formed
spherical aggregates of lipid molecules that are held together by electrostatic forces and that may
have been precursors of cells, Oparin’s work with ceacervates confirmed that enzymes
fundamental for the biochemical reactions of metabolism functioned more efficiently when
contained within membrane-bound spheres than when free in aqueous solutions, Haldane,
unfamiliar with Oparin's coacervates, believed that simple organic molecules formed first and in
the presence of ultraviolet light became increasingly complex, ultimately forming cells. Haldane
and Oparin’s ideas formed the foundation for much of the research on abiogenesis that took
place in later decades.
The Miller-Urey experiment
In 1953 American chemists Harold C. Urey and Stanley Miller tested the Oparin-
Haldane theory and successfully produced organic molecules from some of the
inorganic components thought to have been present on prebiotic Earth, In what
became known 3s the Miller-Urey experiment, the two scientists combined warm
water with a mixture of four gases—water vapour, methane, ammonia, and
molecular hydrogen—and pulsed the “atmosphere” with electrical discharges. The
different components were meant to simulate the primitive ocean, the prebiotic
atmosphere, and heat (in the form of lightning), respectively. One week later Miller
and Urey found that simple organic molecules, including amino acids (the building
blocks of proteins), had formed under the simulated conditions of early Earth
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Modern conceptions of abiogenesis
Modern abiogenesis hypotheses are based largely on the same principles as the Oparin-Haldane theory and the Mille-Urey
‘experiment. There are, however, subtle differences between the several models that have been set forth to explain the
progression from abiogenic molecule to living organism, and explanations differ as to whether complex organic molecules first
became self-replicating entities lacking metabolic functions or first became metabolizing protocells that then developed the
ability to selfreplicate.
The habitat for ablogenesis has also been debated. While some evidence suggests that life may have originated from nonlife in
hydrothermal vents on the ocean floor, itis possible that abiogenesis occurred elsewhere, such as deep below Earth's surface,
where newly arisen protocells could have subsisted on methane or hydrogen, or even on ocean shores, where proteinoids may
have emerged from the reaction of amino acids with heat and then entered the water as cell-like protein droplets.
‘Some scientists have proposed that ablogenesis occurred more than once. In one example of this hypothetical scenario,
different types of life arose, each with distinct biochemical architectures reflecting the nature of the ablogenic materials from
which they developed. Ultimately, however, phosphate-based life ‘standard! life, having a biochemical architecture requiring,
ahosahors) gained an evolutionary advantage over all non-phosphate-based life (‘nonstandard life) and thereby became the
most widely distributed type of life on Earth. This nation led scientists to infer the existence of a shadow biosphere, alife-
supporting system consisting of microorganisms of unique or unusual biochemical structure that may have once existed, or
possibly still exists, on Earth
As the Miller-Urey experiment demonstrated, organic molecules can form from ablogenic materials under the constraints of
Earth's prebiotic atrnosphere. Since the 1950s, researchers have found that arnino acids can spontaneously form peptides (small
proteins) and that key intermediates in the synthesis of RNA nucleotides (nitrogen-containing compounds [bases] inked to sugar
{and phosphate groups) can form from prebiatic starting materials. The latter evidence may support the RNA world hypothesis,
the idea that on early Earth there existed an abundance of RNA life produced through prebiotic chernical reactions. Infact, in
dgition to carrying and translating genetic information, RNA js a catalyst, a molecule that increases the rate of a reaction
‘without itself being consumed, meaning that a single RNA catalyst could have produced mutiple living forms, which would have
been advantageous during the rise of life on Earth. The RNA world hypothesis is one of the leading self-replication-first
conceptions of abiogenesis,
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biogenesis -- Britamica Online Encyclopedia
Some madern metabolism-based models of
abiogenesis incorporate Oparin’s enzyme-containing
coacervates but suggest a steady progression from
simple organic molecules to coacervates, specificaly
protobionts, aggregates of organic molecules that
display some characteristics of life. Protobionts
presumably then gave rise to prokaryotes, single-
celled organisms lacking a distinct nucleus and other
organelles because of the absence of internal
‘membranes but capable of metabolism and self-
replication and susceptible to natural selection.
Examples of primitive prokaryotes stil found on Earth
today include archaea, which often inhabit extreme
environments with conditions similar to those that
‘may have existed billions of years ago, and
cyanobacteria (blue-green algae), which also flourish in
Inhospitable environments and are of particular
Interest in understanding the origin of life, given their
photosynthetic abilities. Stromatalites, deposits
formed by the growth of blue-green algae, are the
world’s oldest fossils, dating to 3.5 billion years ago.
‘There remain many unanswered questions concerning
abiogenes's, Experiments have yet to demonstrate the
complete transition of inorganic materials to structures like protobionts and protocells and, in the case of the proposed RNA
world, have yet to reconcile important differences in mechanisms in the synthesis of purine and pyrimidine bases necessary to
form complete RNA nucleotides. In addition, some scientists contend that abiogenesis was unnecessary, suggesting instead that
life was introduced on Earth via collision with an extraterrestrial object harbouring living organisms, such as a meteorite carrying,
single-celled organisms; the hypothetical migration of life to Earth is known as panspermia,
Research on abiogenesis has benefited significantly from astrobiology, the field of study concerned with the search for
extraterrestrial life (life beyond Earth) and with understanding the conditions required for life to form. Astrobiological
Investigations of the moan,
n, for example, which has an atmosphere lacking free oxygen, have revealed that complex organic
‘molecules are present there, offering scientists a glimpse into the formation of biological materials in a prebiatic habitat
resembling that of early Earth,
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34srosn016 biogenesis -- Britamica Online Encyclopedia
“abiogenesis.Engclopceco Sitannic. Encylopedia Britannica Online
Encydopaeia Britannica Inc, 2016, Web, 16 jn. 2016
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