The Origin and Early

History of Life
There are many ideas about the
origin of life.

 There are both religious and scientific views

about the origin of life.
Theories About the Origin of Life

 Special Creation

- Life-forms may have been put on earth

by supernatural or divine forces.

- The theory of special creation, that a

divine God created life.
Hebrews 11:3

By FAITH we understand that the

u n i v e r s e was formed at God’s
command, so that what is seen was
not made out of what was visible.
Theories About the Origin of Life

 Extraterrestrial Origin (Panspermia)

- Life may not have originated on earth at
all; instead, life may have infected earth
from some other planet.
- proposes that meteors or cosmic dust may
have carried significant amounts of complex
organic molecules to earth, kicking off the
evolution of life
Mars Life?
4.5-3.6 b.y.
Meteorite ALH84001 was
found in Antarctica in 1984.
It is 4.5 b.y. old.

Its chemistry is unlike Earth rocks - instead, it is like

Mars rocks analyzed by remote landers.

It is thought to have originated on Mars, but was

“splashed” into space by an impact near the end of
the heavy bombardment period. It remained in
space until about 16,000 years ago, when it was
attracted by Earth’s mass and fell onto Antarctica.
Mars Life?
4.5-3.6 b.y.

In 1996, tiny tube-like

structures were
discovered
inside the meteorite.

Some scientists have

interpreted these
structures as fossils of
microbes - if so, they
would be at least 3.6
b.y. old.
Theories About the Origin of Life

 Spontaneous Origin
- Life may have evolved from inanimate matter,
as associations among molecules became
more and more complex.

- Most scientists tentatively accept the theory

of spontaneous origin, that life evolved
from inanimate matter.
Prebiotic Earth
 Conditions on the primitive Earth
were not the same as those present
today
 No spontaneous generation of life
today (Pasteur)… Alexander.Ivanovich.
Oparin
because the necessary conditions
no longer exist
 Abiogenesis
- Oparin (1924) and Haldane
(1929) “Primordial Soup Theory”
John Haldane
Conditions on Early Earth
 Reducing atmosphere on the primitive Earth.
No free oxygen (O2)
 Free hydrogen (H2) and saturated hydrides
(CH4, NH3 and H2O)
 Energy for chemical reactions between these
gases could come from electric discharge in
storms or solar energy (no ozone layer)
 The Earth’s surface temperature probably
hotter than today.
Where did LIFE Originate?

While most researchers agree that life

first appeared as the primitive earth
cooled and its rocky crust formed, there
is little agreement as to just where this
occurred.
Rubble from the forming solar system slammed
into early earth from 4.6 to 3.8 billion years ago,
keeping the surface molten hot. As the
bombardment slowed down, temperatures
dropped. By about 3.8 billion years ago, ocean
temperatures are thought to have dropped to a hot
49°to 88°C (120° to 190°F). Between 3.8 and
3.5 billion years ago, life first appeared, promptly
after the earth was inhabitable. Thus, as intolerable
as early earth’s infernal temperatures seem to us
today, they gave birth to life.
Hypotheses
 Under frozen oceans
- proposes that life originated under a frozen
ocean, not unlike the one that covers Jupiter’s
moon Europa today. All evidence suggests,
however, that the early earth was quite warm
and frozen oceans quite unlikely.
Hypotheses
 Deep in the earth’s crust
- life originated deep in the earth’s crust
- life might have formed as a by-product of
volcanic activity, with iron and nickel sulfide
minerals acting as chemical catalysts to
recombine gases spewing from eruptions into
the building blocks of life.
Hypotheses
 Clay on Earth’s crust
- life is the result of silicate surface chemistry.
The surface of clays have positive charges to
attract organic molecules, and exclude water,
providing a potential catalytic surface on which
life’s early chemistry might have occurred.
Hypotheses
 At deep-sea vents
- life originated at deep-sea hydrothermal vents, with the
necessary prebiotic molecules being synthesized on metal
sulfides in the vents. The positive charge of the sulfides
would have acted as a magnet for negatively charged
organic molecules.
- In part, the current popularity of this hypothesis comes
from the new science of genomics, which suggests that
the ancestors of today’s prokaryotes are most closely
related to the bacteria that live on the deep-sea vents.
Origin of Life

Black smoker
Galapagos Is.

Because of the adverse surface conditions, the most

likely place for life to develop might have been at deep
ocean thermal springs, protected from meteorite
bombardment.
Both the raw materials and the heat needed for chemosynthesis would
have been available here.
 Miller-Urey Experiment
 First flask partially filled with water and heated to
produce water vapor (sea)
 Water vapor was moved to a second flask where
methane and ammonia vapor was added
(atmosphere)
 Electric sparks (lightening) in second flask was
energy source for chemical reactions
 Below second flask, water vapor cooled (rain) and
recycled to first flask (sea)
 Result: turned brown with amino acids and other
complex organic molecules
Primordial Earth

Miller-Urey experiment showed the spontaneous formation of macromolecules

was possible with the conditions in the earth’s early atmosphere.
Results
 After a week 15 amino
acids in the mixture
 Other biologically
important molecules had
been formed including
ethanoic acid, lactic
acid and urea
 Later similar experiments
were done using CO2 that
produced nucleotides
 Additonal organic Stanley Miller
material may have been
delivered by comets.
From Monomers to Polymers

 Amino acids  polypeptides, could have

occurred when dry or highly concentrated
monomers are heated
 Condensation reactions take place forming:
peptide bonds between amino acids or
phosphodiester bonds form between
nucleotides.
Early Catalysts

 As molecules adsorb to the clay mineral

particles they become concentrated (stick to
the surface particles)
 Clay particles (coacervates) may have been
essential catalysts in the formation of
polymers.
The First Polynucleotides

 Polynucleotides show a tendency to copy

themselves using complementary base
pairing
 This was probably catalysed by the
presence of clay particles and metal ions
 These single stranded polynucleotides would
have been the equivalent of RNA.
The First Hereditary Information

 RNA was probably the first hereditary

molecule having the ability to copy itself
 RNA shows enzymic (catalytic) properties –
called ribozymes
 Polynucleotides are very good molecules at
storing and transmitting information but
they lack the versatility for all the chemical
functions of a cell.
A Great Partnership
 Polypeptides can form complex 3-
dimensional structures (proteins),
Polypeptides much better at complex cell
functions
 A partnership must have formed between the
polynucleotides and the polypeptides
 The polynucleotides directed the synthesis of
the polypeptides
 Today it is clear that information only flows
from polynucleotides to polypeptides.
Translation had started.
The origin of DNA
 Hereditary information
was probably stored in the
form of DNA later
DNA is more stable than
RNA
 The passage of
information from RNA to
DNA is possible in nature
 The reverse
transcriptase enzyme of
the retro viruses shows
this. DNA
The First Membranes, the First Cells

 If a piece of RNA codes for a particularly

good protein then there is nothing to stop that
protein being used by other RNA molecules
 If, however, the RNA is enclosed in a
membrane then it can keep its protein to itself
and it gains a selective advantage
 So membranes probably pushed evolution by
natural selection forwards.
Membranes Defined the First Cell
 The phospholipids form lipid bilayers when
they are surrounded by water
 All the components of a simple prokaryotic
cell were now assembled
 They diversified in their metabolism
 By 2 billion years ago free oxygen was
appearing in the atmosphere due to the
activity of photosynthetic bacteria.
Quick Summary
Evolution of the Three Domains

 Comparisons of present-day prokaryotic and

eukaryotic DNA, however, suggest that the
earliest prokaryotic cells probably gave rise to
eubacteria and archaebacteria.
 The eukaryote lineage and archaebacteria
lineage are thought to have separated about
3.4 billion years ago.
 Prokaryotic Cells
 The oldest known fossils on Earth are dated to 3.465
billion years old – from Western Australia lsyered in
formations called stromatolites
 These microscopic fossils resemble present-day
cyanobacteria
 Although the oldest fossil bacteria resemble
photosynthetic cyanobacteria, which use oxygen, the
very first prokaryotic cells would certainly have been
anaerobic, as the atmosphere would then have
contained little or no free oxygen.
 These first prokaryotic organisms would likely have
relied on abiotic sources of organic compounds.
They would have been chemoautotrophic, using
compounds like H2S
 Stromatolites (3.5 bill. Yr)
 Rocks with distinctive layer
structure
 Look identical to living
mats of microbes
 Layers of microbes and
sediment
 Top layer uses
photosynthesis
 Lower layers use top
layer’s byproducts
The oldest microfossil. This ancient
bacterial fossil, discovered by J. William
Schopf of UCLA in 3.5-billion-year-old
rocks in western Australia, is similar to
present-day cyanobacteria, as you
can see by comparing it to figure
Living cyanobacteria. Although not
multicellular, these bacteria
often aggregate into chains such as
those seen here.
 Changing the Atmosphere
 Although the first photosynthetic organisms may have also used
hydrogen sulfide as a source of hydrogen, those that used water would
have had a virtually unlimited supply.
 As they removed hydrogen from water, they would have released free
oxygen gas into the atmosphere—a process that would have had a
dramatic effect.
 The accumulation of oxygen gas, which is very reactive, would have
been toxic to many of the anaerobic organisms on Earth.
 While these photosynthetic cells prospered, others would have had to
adapt to the steadily increasing levels of atmospheric oxygen or perish.
 Some of the oxygen gas reaching the upper atmosphere would have
reacted to form a layer of ozone gas, having the potential to dramatically
reduce the amount of damaging ultraviolet radiation reaching Earth.
 At the same time, the very success of the photosynthetic cells would
have favoured the evolution of many heterotrophic organisms.
Evolution of the Three Domains
 Eukaryotic Cells
 The distinguishing feature of eukaryotic cells is the
presence of membrane-bound organelles, such as
the nucleus and vacuoles. A nuclear membrane and
the endoplasmic reticulum may have evolved from
infolding of the outer cell membrane.
 Initially, such folding may have been an adaptation
that permitted more efficient exchange of materials
between the cell and its surroundings by increasing
surface area, and it may also have provided more
intimate chemical communication between the
genetic material and the environment.
Development of Internal Membranes
 Mitochondria and Chloroplasts
 Early eukaryotic cells engulfed aerobic bacteria in a process
similar to phagocytosis in amoeba
 Having been surrounded by a plasma membrane, the bacteria
were not digested but, instead, entered into a symbiotic
relationship with the host cell. The bacteria would have
continued to perform aerobic respiration, providing excess
ATP to the host eukaryotic cell, which would have continued
to seek out and acquire energy-rich molecules from its
surroundings.
 Endosymbiotic bacteria, benefiting from this chemical-rich
environment, would have begun to reproduce independently
within this larger cell.
 This process is referred to as endosymbiosis
 Endosymbiosis

Evidence which supports this theory is that both mitochondria and

chloroplasts:
• have their own DNA
• undergo division independently of their own cell’s division
• contain two sets of membranes (outer and inner membranes)
 Multicellularity
 For the first 3 billion years of life on Earth, all organisms were
unicellular.
 Eubacteria gave rise to aerobic and photosynthetic lineages, while
archaebacteria evolved into three main groups: methanogens,
extreme halophiles, and extreme thermophiles.
 Once eukaryotic organisms evolved complex structures and
processes, including mitosis and sexual reproduction, they would
have had the benefit of much more extensive genetic
recombination than would have been possible among prokaryotic
cells.
 Photosynthesis continued to increase the oxygen concentration in
the atmosphere to the benefit of aerobic organisms.
 Multicellular organisms, including plants, fungi, and animals, are
thought to have evolved less than 750 million years ago.
 Diversification
 The oldest fossils of multicellular animals date from
about 640 million years ago.
 However, during a 40-million-year period beginning
about 565 million years ago, a massive increase in
animal diversity occurred, referred to as the Cambrian
explosion.
 Fossil evidence dating from this period shows the
appearance of early arthropods, such as trilobites, as
well as echinoderms and molluscs; primitive chordates
– which were precursors to the vertebrates—also
appeared.
 Animals representing all present-day major phyla, as
well as many that are now extinct, first appeared during
this period, a time span that represents less than 1% of
Earth’s history.
Diversification and Extinction
 Rate of Evolution
 When Darwin proposed the theory of natural
selection, he predicted that species would change
gradually over time, following the pace of geologic
change.
 The Theory of Gradualism contends that when new
species first evolve, they appear very similar to the
originator species and only gradually become more
distinctive, as natural selection and genetic drift act
independently on both species.
 One would expect to find, according to this theory,
as a result of slow incremental changes, numerous
fossil species representing transitional forms.
 Rate of Evolution
 Niles Eldredge of the American Museum of
Natural History and Stephen Jay Gould of
Harvard University rejected this explanation and,
in 1972, proposed an alternative theory called
the Theory of Punctuated Equilibrium. It consists
of three main assertions:
• Species evolve very rapidly in evolutionary time.
• Speciation usually occurs in small isolated
populations and thus intermediate fossils are very
rare.
• After the initial burst of evolution, species do not
change significantly over long periods of time.
The Phylogeny of Prokaryotes

Early Prokaryote

Domain
Bacteria
(Eubacteria)

Domain Domain
Archaea Eukarya
(Archaebacteria) (Eukaryotes)

Protista Fungi Plantae Animalia

 Kingdom Protista
Red algae
Photosynthetic protists ( Spirogyra )
and PLANTS
Rhizopoda, water molds, diatoms,
brown algae, heliozoans, slime nets
Heterotrophic symbiotic flagellates
(Trichomonas , Gardia)
Choanoflagellates and ANIMALS
Amoeboflagellates and cellular slime molds

Dinoflagellates and ciliates

Euglenoids
prokaryotic ancestor
(eubacteria? )
 Kingdom Plantae
Anthophyta
(flowering plants)
Angiospermae

Coniferophyta (Conifers)
Gy mnospermae Cycadophyta ( Cycads
seeded v ascular
plants Ginkgophyta ( Ginkgos)
Gnetophyta ( Gnetae )
seedless v ascular Psilophyta ( whiskferns )
plants
Lycophyta (club mosses)
Spenophyta (Horsetails)
nonv ascular
plants Pterophyta (Ferns)

Bryophyta
Algal ancestor (mosses, liverworts, hornworts )
(Photosynthetic protist?)
 Protistan Ancestor Kingdom Animalia
(Choanoflagellate)

Asymmetrical Symmetrical
Parazoa Eumetazoa
Porifera

Radiata Bilateria
Diploblastic Triploblastic
Cnidaria

Acoelomate Coelomates
Platyhelm inthes

Pseudocoelomate Eucoelomate
Nem atoda

Protostome Deuterostome
Mollusca Echinoderm ata
Annelida Chordata
Arthropoda