ZOOLOGY-EVOLUTION ASSIGNMENT

THEORIES OF ORIGIN OF LIFE

SUBMITTED TO
DR. FATIMA

SUBMITTED BY
SARFRAZ ALI
 Table of Contents
Introduction ......................................................................................................................................2
Hindu concept ...................................................................................................................................2
Christian & Islamic belief: ...................................................................................................................2
Theory of spontaneous generation .....................................................................................................2
Theory of panspermia ........................................................................................................................3
Theory of eternity of life: ...................................................................................................................3
Theory of catastrophism ....................................................................................................................3
Oparin-haldene theory .......................................................................................................................4
Recent developments ........................................................................................................................4
Conclusion .........................................................................................................................................5
References.........................................................................................................................................5

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Introduction
Several attempts have been made from time to time to explain the origin of life on earth. As a
result, there are several theories which offer their own explanation on the possible mechanism of
origin of life. Following are some of them:

Theory of special creation

Theory of spontaneous generation
Theory of panspermia
Theory of eternity of life:
Theory of catastrophism
Oparin-haldene theory

All the different forms of life - created by god.

Hindu concept: - lord brahma created the living world in one stroke.

Christian & Islamic belief: - god created this universe, plants, animals and human beings
in about six days.

• 3 main postulates:

– all different kinds of animals & plants were created at once.

– all organisms were created in the same form in which they exist today.

– their bodies & organs have been designed to fully meet the needs of the environment.

• it has no scientific basis.

Theory of spontaneous generation

Living things originated spontaneously from inanimate objects.

• it is also called abiogenesis or biopoesis.

• supporters: -

Aristotle

Epicurus

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 Von helmont

• they believed

» insects arise from dew

» fish & frog from mud

» fly maggots from meat.

• opposers

» fransisco redi

» spallanzani

» louis pasteur

• the opposers disproved this theory.

Theory of panspermia
 Proposed by richter in 1865 and supported by arrhenius.
 Life had come to earth from other planets of the universe, in the form of resistant spores.
 British astronomers fred hoyle and chandra wickramasinghe proposed:
 Interstellar dust and comets contain organic compounds.
 Comets, which are largely made of water-ice, carry bacterial life across galaxies
and protect it from radiation damage along the way.
 The 2005 deep impact mission to comet tempel 1 discovered a mixture of organic and
clay particles inside the comet.

Theory of eternity of life:

 Life only changes its form but is never created. It has no origin and has always existed.

Theory of catastrophism
 Modification of the theory of special creation.
 States that there have been several creations of life by god, each preceded by a
catastrophe resulting from some kind of geological disturbance.

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  Since each catastrophe completely destroyed the existing life, each new creation
consisted of life form different from that of previous ones.
 Main supporters: french scientists georges cuvier and orbigney

Oparin-haldene theory
 Also known as materialistic theory or physico-chemical theory.
 Proposed independently by a russian scientist, a.i.oparin, in 1923 and an english scientist,
j.b.s haldane, in 1928. According to this theory,
 Life first arose from a collection of chemical substances by a progressive series of
reactions.
 Early earth's surface and atmosphere – radically different from today’s condition.
 The primitive earth's atmosphere -reducing type.
 Solar radiation and lightning must have been the chief energy source for these chemical
reactions.
 The organic compounds gradually accumulated in oceans and formed a ―hot primordial
soup‖ or ―hot dilute soup‖.
 Also known as ―darwin’s warm little pond.
 Oparin proposed that the proteinoids, nucleo proteins and other organic and inorganic
molecules aggregated and precipited in sea forming organized colloid aggregates called
coacervates.
 The coacervates were able to absorb and assimilate organic compounds from the
environment in a way reminiscent of metabolism.
 They divided by budding.
 Oparin considered that the coacervates gave rise to primitive cells or eubionts.
 Sydney fox obtained proteinoid microspheres by heating a mixture of dry amino acids
b/w 130 to 1800c and later cooling them in water.
 It was similar to coccoid bacteria.

Recent developments
– In April 2011, researchers in Italy found that if they mixed formamide, a simple chemical
present in space, with material from a meteorite, and then heated the mixture, that they produced

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nucleic acids (building blocks of DNA and RNA), the amino acid glycine, and a precursor to
sugar.

– In February 2010 scientists at the Scripps Research Institute in San Diego announced that they
have synthesized RNA enzymes, known as ribozymes, that can replicate themselves without the
help of any proteins or other cellular components.

– In May 2009, a team led by John Sutherland, a chemist at the University of Manchester in
England discovered how the basic nucleotides (building blocks) of RNA could spontaneously
assemble . He formed the RNA nucleotide ribocytidine phosphate from cyano-acetylene.

Conclusion
• All the evidence gathered thus far has revealed a great deal about the origin of life, but there is
still much to learn.

• Numerous scenarios have been explored for many years, but there is still a large gap between
what is known and what is unknown.

• Because of the enormous length of time and the tremendous change that has occurred since
then, much of the evidence relevant to origins has been lost and we may never know certain
details.

• Nevertheless, many of the gaps in our knowledge (gaps that seemed unbridgeable just 20 years
ago) have been filled in recent years, and continuing research and new technologies hold the
promise of more insights.

References
• Strickberger W Monroe (2000), Evolution, 3rd edition, Jones and Bartlett Publishers.

• Arora P Mohan . (2000), Evolutionary Biology ,3rd edition, Himalaya Publishing House

• http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/03/05/exclusive-nasa-scientistsclaims-evidence-alien-life
meteorite/#ixzz1cvC7Bge8

• http://www.smashinglists.com/top-10-theories-on-beginning-of-life-onearth/

• http://mannaismayaadventure.wordpress.com/2011/06/24/

• http://www.tutorvista.com/content/biology/biology-iii/origin-life/originlife-theories.php

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• http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/04/03/962923/-RevolutionaryScience:-Hydrothermal-Vents-
and-the-Origins-of-Life

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_flx26bU0Q&feature=related

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