Origin of Life on Earth

Biology CP

Source: Biology, The Dynamics of Life. Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, 2002.

Early Ideas about Origins of Life

• Spontaneous generation - life arising from

nonliving matter
Examples:
– mud producing fish
– grain producing mice
– decaying meat producing maggots
 Redi’s Experiment

• Effort to disprove spontaneous generation

• Decaying meat in uncovered control jars vs.
covered experimental jars.
• Results?
 Redi’s Experiment

• Effort to disprove spontaneous generation

• Decaying meat in uncovered control jars vs.
covered experimental jars.
• Results: maggots and flies filled the open jars but
not covered jars. Showed only flies produce flies.
 People still didn’t believe it…

• Although Redi disproved spontaneous

generation of large organisms, many
scientists thought microorganisms must
arise spontaneously, probably from a vital
force in the air.
Pasteur’s Experiment (mid-1800s)
 Ideas about Origins of Life
• Biogenesis-life arising from other organisms

• Where did the first life come from?

 First Things First:
Before we talk about the origin of life we must talk
about the origin of:

 Universe
 Earth’s Oceans
 Earth’s Atmosphere
 Earth’s Crust
 Big Bang Theory
• Explains how the universe formed-13.7 bya

• Universe began as an infinitely small, hot dense

‘speck’ that inflated, expanded and cooled to the
size and temperature of our current universe.

• Earth formed 4.5-4.6 bya

 Formation of the Oceans
• Tremendous amounts of hydrogen and oxygen
were trapped below the crust

• combined to form water vapor, which was

released to the atmosphere

• The water vapor condensed in the atmosphere and

rained down to form vast oceans
 Earth’s Early Atmosphere
Compound Elements Present Molecular Formula

methane carbon, hydrogen CH4

ammonia nitrogen, hydrogen NH3

hydrogen hydrogen H2

water hydrogen, oxygen H2O

carbon dioxide carbon, oxygen CO2

Sequence of conditions on primitive
earth
• Heavy particles such as iron, copper and nickel
were pulled to the center of the earth.

• Lighter particles such as helium and hydrogen

remained at the surface.
 Sequence of conditions on
primitive earth:
• Radioactive material and great pressure kept the
center of the earth in a molten state.

• Over a period of years, the outer surface or crust

of the earth formed over the molten center (4 billion
years ago

• As the outside of the earth cooled, hot gasses from

the interior escaped to form the primitive
atmosphere
What major gas, necessary for life, is missing from
the atmosphere of primitive Earth?

O2
 Primitive Earth’s Atmosphere
• Primitive Earth set the stage for the formation
of organic molecules

• This could not have happened on Modern

Earth!
 Why are organic molecules
important to the origin of life?

Organization of simple organic molecules

lead to more complex organic molecules
such as proteins, carbohydrates, and nucleic
acids.

More complex organic molecules lead to

cells = LIFE.
 Earth’s Early Atmosphere

• Oxygen (O2) - a highly reactive compound.

Will break bonds that form between simple
organic compounds and destroy them.

• Primitive atmosphere lacked free Oxygen

(O2): simple organic compounds could form
and remain stable even when exposed to air
Energy used to join atoms that form
hydrocarbons !

Forms of Energy on primitive Earth

a) UV Radiation (no Ozone layer to block it)

b) lightning in the atmosphere
c) heat from volcanoes above and below ocean
level
Primtive Earth
 Theory of Chemical Evolution

• In 1924, Alexander Oparin and J. B.

Haldane developed a theory for the origin
of organic compounds

• Conditions on primitive earth gave rise to

simple organic compounds, the precursors
to life
 Theory of Chemical Evolution

• Inorganic Matter- (like CO2 & NH3) plus

organic molecules (CH4) in the atmosphere
combined using energy

• Simple Organic Molecules – like HCN

(hydrogen cyanide) and formaldehyde
formed primitive clumps of organic matter.
 Miller and Urey (1953)

In 1953, Stanley Miller and Harold Urey

developed a model to test the Oparin/Haldane
Hypothesis

Set up a simulation of conditions on early

earth…guess what they found…
 Miller and Urey (1953)
• Gasses in the apparatus:CH4, CH3, H2O, H2
• Source of energy: electricity
• And after 1 week….

• Analysis of substances (“organic soup”)

collected in the trap: HCN (hydrogen
cyanide), lactic acid, acetic acid, simple
amino acids, formaldehyde
What would happen if you add O2 to the
above mixture?
reduces the amounts of organic molecules
formed or eliminates them because oxygen
gas is highly reactive!
Other scientists used UV light in this model
and formed…
Simple organic molecules like HCN which
can be used to form adenine, a nitrogen
base…
Importance?
Formation of Nucleic Acids- DNA, RNA
 The Heterotroph Hypothesis

Once simple, organic compounds were

formed, polymers of carbohydrates,
proteins, lipids and nucleic acids are
formed….HOW?
 How did simple organic molecules
form complex organic molecules?

• Studies in 1950’s showed that if amino

acids are heated without oxygen, they form
proteins. A similar process produces ATP
and nucleic acids from small molecules.
• Therefore, this may have occurred on early
earth in the warm pools of water.
 Formation of Life

• Complex organic molecules can form

primitive cells= LIFE!

• Protocells, simple precursors to cells then

evolved into primitive cells with RNA as
the genetic material:
 Origin of Life

simple organic compounds  polymers 

protocells  primitive cells
How did these molecules become CELLS?

• Sidney Fox: Protocells

could be formed by
heating solutions of amino
acids.
• Protocell is a large,
ordered structure, enclosed
by a membrane, that
carries out some life
activities, such as growth
and division.
 Were the primitive cells
• Heterotrophs?-organism which requires an external
supply of energy in the form of food as it cannot
synthesize its own

• Autotrophs?-is an organism that produces complex

organic compounds from simple inorganic molecules
using energy from light (by photosynthesis) or
inorganic chemical reactions.
 Which form of life is a simpler
design?
• Heterotrophs!
• Why?
• Autotrophs have to make glucose (high
energy organic molecules) which requires A
LOT more enzymes and extra genes (DNA)
• Plus Autotrophs have to convert glucose
just like heterotrophs (go through same
reactions)
 Which form of cellular
respiration was used?
Aerobic (uses O2) OR anaerobic (no O2 used)
Answer: anaerobic respiration (fermentation)
Anaerobic heterotrophs consumed organic
matter (organic “soup”) and underwent
anaerobic respiration
The first Autotrophs: 2.5 bya – primitive
cyanobacteria
Example: blue green algae
The first Autotrophs: 2.5 bya – primitive
cyanobacteria
Example: blue green algae
 Photosynthesis provided two
important things

1) source of food for heterotrophs and

• 2) free O2 for the environment & aerobic

(uses O2) respiration
 The effect of photosynthesis on
development of the ozone layer
1) Some of the O2 formed by producers is used to
form the ozone layer: O2 + UV light  O3
2) Ozone blocks most Ultraviolet radiation from
reaching the Earth.
3) One source of energy for formation of organic
compounds is reduced BUT,
4) Organisms exposed to the atmosphere are not
harmed by the UV radiation.
5) O2 becomes available for aerobic cellular
respiration
The effect of photosynthesis on
development of the ozone layer
 ~LIFE BEGAN!~

• We have found fossils of photosynthetic

prokaryotic cells from 3.5 billion years ago.
However, these were probably not the first
cells.
 ~LIFE BEGAN!~

• We have found fossils of photosynthetic

prokaryotic cells from 3.5 billion years ago.
However, these were probably not the first
cells.
• Reminder:
– prokaryotic: simple cell structure, no nucleus
• example: bacteria
– eukaryotic:complex cell structure, has nucleus
• examples: protists, fungi, plants, animals
 The First Cells

• First cells were probably prokaryotes that

evolved from protocells; didn’t need
oxygen, used molecules in oceans for food.
• At some point, some cells developed the
ability to make their own food
– CHEMOSYNTHESIS - making glucose from
inorganic molecules, probably near deep sea
vents or in hot springs. No light needed.
 And later...
• Some cells developed the ability use light to perform
PHOTOSYNTHESIS. This started increasing the
amount of oxygen in the atmosphere.
• Some cells developed the ability to use oxygen
through respiration.
• Lightning caused some oxygen (O2) to form ozone
(O3).
– Protective layer, prevents most UV radiation from
sun
– stopped origin of cells; enabled evolution of more
complex cells.
 Evolution of Eukaryotic Cells
• Lynn Margulis (1960s) - Endosymbiont Theory
– Ancient bacteria may have “taken in” other
bacteria, which evolved to become cell
structures such as mitochondria and
chloroplasts.
– Supporting Evidence:
• M & C have their own DNA (similar to
prokaryotes)
• M & C have ribosomes (similar to prokaryotes)
• M & C reproduce independently within cells
 And finally...

• Over millions of years, these early cells

evolved to the diversity of living things we
have on Earth today!!
• This likely involved many, many different
mutations over time. Survival was likely
determined through natural selection
(“survival of the fittest”).