Origin of life

FUNDAMENTAL CHARACTERISTICS OF LIFE

 Energy acquisition and utilization --- metabolism, growth,

behavior.

 Information storage --- presence of a genome that specifies a

phenotype.

 Reproduction --- ability to produce progeny of the same type.

 EVOLUTION BY NATURAL SELECTION – ability to change in ways

that improve capabilities of energy acquisition, survivorship, and
reproduction.
Deciphering the Earliest History of the Earth: Zircon Grains

Radiometric dating
estimates the age
of the earth at
4.56 BY

From: Halliday 2001 Nature 409:144-145

 Murchison Meteorite
SUGARS FOUND IN THE MURCHISON METEORITE

From: Cooper et al. 2001 Nature 414:897-883

 EVIDENCE OF LIFE ON MARS?

Are these biological microfossils?

From: MacKay et al. 1996 Science

Oparin-Haldane Model
 BIG UNANSWERED QUESTIONS IN ORIGIN-OF-LIFE
RESEARCH

 How did the “primordial soup” acquire the simple monomeric

building blocks essential for the production of information bearing
polymers?

 What conditions are necessary for the initial(pre-biotic) assembly of

such polymers?

 Can a polymer be produced that is capable of self-replication as well

as information storage?

 How did compartmentalization, necessary for self-recognition during

replication and for the diffusion of gene products, evolve?

 Which came first---DNA, RNA, protein, or something else, or did

complex systems involving all of these emerge simultaneously?
ASSEMBLY OF AN INFORMATION BEARING POLYMER:

PROTEINS FIRST?

Strong points:

 Easy to synthesize amino acids under a variety of

conditions and polymers can also be formed.
 Even small peptides can exhibit catalytic activity.
 20 amino acids provides for high information content.

Weak points:

 Globular structure and lack of complementarity

preclude self-replication.
 Modern proteins can not function without DNA.
ASSEMBLY OF AN INFORMATION BEARING POLYMER:

AN RNA WORLD?

Strong points:

 RNA has some catalytic properties (self-splicing

introns).
 RNA is capable of making proteins (Noller 1992).

Weak points:

 RNA lacks the ability to self-replicate.

A DNA WORLD?

 DNA is almost completely lacking in catalytic ability

Protein
RNA
DNA ------------------------Considering any one of the biomolecule to be the first
existed molecule, there are strong and weak arguments
for all.

So How did these biomolecules originate?

If one considers that HCN – is the base from where these macro molecules have
originated then ………

How did HCN – originate?

Among HCN – which one originate first?
Did you know???????????????

13.8 billion years ago – Big bang theory. ( energy was concentrated at the
center, condensed – finally erupted in the form of big bang, to produce galaxies
and thus arose the present solar system etc…….. (huge explosion)

4.5 billion years ago – Earth was formed.

Took about 500 million years for the crust to solidify.

3.5 billion years ago – oldest fossils of micro-organism found.

2.7 billion years ago – Oxygen began accumulating in atmosphere.

Theories of creation of life:-

1. Theory of creation.

2. Theory of extraterrestrial origin.

3. Theory of biochemical evolution.

1. Theory of creation.

- Life was put here on earth by divine intervention.

- Based on faith but not on fact.

- Relies on stories – told to us generation after generation.

- Cannot be proven scientifically.

- Therefore these theory can not fit into scientific frame work.
2. Theory of extraterrestrial origin.

According to this……….

- Life originated on other planet system outside our solar system

and it was carried here on meteorite, asteroid and comets.

- Can not be proven scientifically to some extent.

3. Theory of Biochemical evolution.

- According to this theory life appeared after a period of chemical

reactions.

- This has happened according to physical and chemical laws.

- From basic molecules – HCN

This theory - must have given rise to organic
scientifically - Must have given rise to molecules like amino acids.
proven but nucleotides. - These Amino acids undergo
not again - These nucleotides undergo polymerization to form peptides.
100% - These peptides give rise to proteins.
accepted polymerization.
- Give rise to RNA or DNA.
Only in the modern era ------ some scientific frame work was used to
understand the origin of life.

By the means of experimental verification through empirical data.

- It is Charles Darwin (1871) who gave the first “Theory of

evolution” – was based on some scientific frame work.
Radioactive studies ------indicate that earth was formed some where
4.6 billion years ago.

Earth as it was formed, its surface remained too hot for several years.

So life was not possible at that time.

 4.6 billions of years - Earth was formed.
3.8 Oldest known sedimentary rocks on earth must have got
formed.
3.5 Earliest evidence of cellular life, Microfossils that
resembling modern cyanobacteria.

0 – you are here.

• 3.8 billions years ago = there were evidences to show that
“Sedimentary rocks” on earth must have got formed.

• Geochemical analysis indicated that these rocks contained

“Carbonaceous inclusions”.

• This carbonaceous inclusions seem to suggest the biological origin

around that time.

• This shows that life must have existed around that time, where
these sedimentary rocks must have got laid down.

• If so, life on earth must have arisen nearly 4 billion years ago.
 What is prebiotic era?

• It is the era of non-living.

• Characterized by non-digestible ingredients.

• Inorganic or organic chemistry in the natural environment before

the advent of life on earth.

• No direct record or evidence available to determine or to prove

“How exactly life arose?”
 But what is possible is……..

• Through laboratory experimentations, we can determine or

demonstrate what sort of abiotic chemical reactions must have
happened that led to the formation of living system.

Questions like………
• What sort of abiotic chemical reactions must have taken place to
form the biomolecules that constituted life?

• What sort of chemicals must have existed that led to formation of

life?
 But what is available is……..

• “ Genetic information about the modern organism”.

So by comparing the corresponding genetic messages of a wide

variety of modern organisms it may be possible to derive reasonable
models of the primordial message (materials) from which life has
descended.
 From the genetic information of the modern organisms, it can be
said that there were three stages of development or evolution that
gave way to the formation of life.
1. Chemical evolution:-
“Geologically occurring molecules reacted to form complex organic
polymers”.

2. Evolution of self-organization:-
“ Collection of these polymers to form the replicating entities”.
In this process – at a certain point – the transition from a lifeless
collections of reacting and replicating molecules to a living system
occurred.

3. Biological evolution:- this process ultimately formed the complex web

of modern life.
 In order to understand and study these three stages………

We need to first understand, why only CARBON of all the elements,

is suited as the basis of the complex chemistry required for life.
The unique properties of Carbon
• Living matter consists of relatively small number of different
elements.

• 92% of the dry weight of living things is made up of C, H, O, N, P

and S. These elements readily form the covalent bonds.

• Balance of these elements is maintained .

• These elements are present mainly as ions and in trace quantity.

• Mainly they are part of enzymes as co-factors – present in active

site.
• There are about – 90 naturally occurring elements.

• 64 out of 90 elements are not known for their biological

requirements.

• If we look at the periodic table, 26 elements are utilized by living

systems.
• Carbon – is the predominating elements in living matter.

• Carbon has “ Chemical versatility”.

Having an ability to form infinite number of compounds

Because of the capacity to make as many as 4 highly stable covalent

bonds – single, double and triple bonds.

• Among 40 million chemical compounds known, 90% are carbon

containing organic elements.
• Carbon considered to be chemically versatile because of the ability
to form infinite compounds 4 covalent bonds.

• Other elements from periodic table – group 14 lack this versatile

property.

• Eg:- Silicon and carbon – present in the same column of the

periodic table but silicon lacks this chemical versatility.

• Even Si – Si is a weak bond.

• This is because silicon atom contains large atomic radius. This

prevents 2 silicon atoms to come close to gain orbital overlap.
• Hetero nuclear linkages – between 2 different atoms = weak

• Homo nuclear linkages – between the same atoms = strong.

• Proteins : C – N – C
• Carbohydrate: C – O – C
• Nucleic acids: C – O – P – O – C

• Such hetero nuclear linkages are the easy target for degradation
through chemical cleavages.

• On the other hand the homologous linkages “other than C-C are
very highly reactive and they are rare in biological system.
Development of life through
3 stages.
Development of life occupied three different stages:-

A) Chemical evolution.

B) The rise of living system.

C) Biological evolution
A) Chemical evolution.
A) The Chemical evolution:-
- This is most favored scenario for “the origin of life”.
- Formation of solar system is thought to have been formed by
gravitational induced collapse.
- Collapse of large interstellar cloud – filled with dust and gas.
- Gas refers to :- hydrogen and helium.
- These gases got condensed to form “SUN”.
- Present “Sun” arose from “Proto-sun”.
- The proto-sun had at the centre 1. the rising temperature and 2.
rising pressure.
- These rising temperature and pressure ignited the self-sustaining
thermonuclear reaction – this served as sun’s energy source.
- Planets – were formed from smaller clumps of dust.
- These planets could not support the process of sustainable
thermonuclear reaction because they were not massive enough to
have that required temperature and pressure needed for
thermonuclear reaction.
Earth:-
- Consists of mostly heavier elements because their masses are too
small to gravitationally retain much of H or He.
- Earth comes from “Primordial Earth”.
- The atmosphere that was present in primordial earth is quiet
different from what we see today.
The question is – “Had primordial earth contained significantly huge
quantities of O2 (highly reactive) as we today?
Primordial Earth:-

- Contained – H2O, N2 and CO2

- Besides it also had smaller amount of CO, CH4, NH3, SO2 and H2

- The chemical properties of these gas mixture make it a reducing

atmosphere.

- This is in contrast to the present condition of the earth which is

“Oxidizing atmosphere”.
Primordial Earth:-

In 1920s,
Alexander and Haldane’s – hypothesis that :-

UV rays or lightening charges from sun caused the molecules of primordial

reducing atmosphere to react to form simple organic compounds such as:-
amino acids,
nucleic acids,
and
sugar.

How were these biomolecules formed?

This process of formation of Amino acids, nucleic acids and sugar was
demonstrated in 1953 by Stanley Miller and Harold Urey.

Miller and Urey experiment.

- They simulated effects of lightening
storms.

- The resulting solution contained significant

amount of water soluble organic
compounds and insoluble tar.

- Several of these organic water components

contained amino acids – the building block
of proteins.

- Altering the content of gas mixture and

energy source various other amino acids
were derived.
 What do we infer of this experiment?

Large quantities of organic materials were delivered to the primordial earth by the
carboneous meteorites and dust.

The biomolecules (Nucleic acids, proteins and carbohydrate) must have been synthesized
under this type of prebiotic conditions.

Nucleic acid bases:-

- can be also synthesized under prebiotic conditions.
- especially “adenine” – is formed by the condensation of HCN. (HCN is a plentiful
component in prebiotic atmosphere.
- a reaction catalyzed by NH3
- Chemical formula of adenine is (HCN)5
- other bases also were synthesized in similar manner, involving the reaction
between HCN and water.
Sugars:-
- have been synthesized by the polymerization of formaldehyde (CH2O) in a
reaction catalyzed by divalent cations, alumina or clays.

Therefore Amino acids, Nucleic acids and Sugar were the most common
organic substances in prebiotic times.

This type of prebiotic reactions must have occurred over a period of 100s
millions of years.

It is also said that “Ocean” contained the organic compounds consistently as a

thin “bouillon soup”.

Places like tidal pools and shallow lakes these prebiotic soup became more
concentrated.
In such environments where this type of prebiotic soup was present, the
organic compounds that were present within this soup condensed to form
new molecules.

eg:- Polypeptides + polynucleotides = Nucleic acids

It is also possible that these types of reactions were catalyzed by the

adsorption of these reactants on minerals such as clays.
If life were to be formed then:-
the synthesis of these polymers must have been greater than their
hydrolysis.

This leads us to a conclusion…………..

- That life would have started in these type of ponds where it must
have been cold environment rather than warm.

- cold temp = below 00 C. (sea water solidly freezes only below - 210 C.

- at this temperature the process of hydrolysis is normally retarded.

Development of life through
3 stages.
B) The rise of living system.
B) The rise of living system.
- Rise of living system or living cell must have happened as a
spontaneous process.

- Bio-molecules within the living system have the ability to replicate

themselves.

- a living cell must have been formed spontaneously from simple

organic molecules.

So how did then life arise?

The probable answer is – “Darwinian Principle of the survival of the
fittest” – as it applies to molecular level.
Rise of living system or living cell be understood by means of
two important elements:-

a) Life probably arose through the development of self-

replicating RNA molecule. (RNA world)

b) Development of metabolic Pathways, Photosynthesis

and Respiration.
a) Life probably arose through the development of self-
replicating RNA molecule (RNA world).

- The primordial self – replicating system is believed to be

“Collection of nucleic acid (N.As) molecules”.

- This collection of N.As can direct the synthesis of molecules

complementary to themselves.

In many viruses, RNA serves as a hereditary material and like that of

DNA can direct the synthesis of complementary strand.
• Parent molecules gave rise to Progeny molecules.

• Polymerization of these would have occurred. This is a chemical

process so the accuracy could have been not so 100%.

• This means that the early progeny molecules would therefore have
been only approximately complementary to their parents.
• Repeated cycles of nucleic acids (N.A) synthesis…….would have
caused the exhaust of the supply of free nucleotides.

• This would have limited the rate of synthesis of new N.As.

• On the other hand there must have been as well occurred the
hydrolytic degradation of old molecules of N.As.

• Under this hydrolytic condition…………….

- if a nucleic acid (N.A) molecule arose all of a sudden randomly
then this molecule was more resistant to degradation than its cousins.
• Progeny of the molecule (arose from molecule which came from
sudden or random manner) is more resistant.

• This is more resistant than other molecules which are non-

resistant.

• So on one hand there are resistant molecules and on the other

hand non-resistant molecules.

• Under this condition – resistant molecules would have a

“Darwinian advantage” over the non-resistant molecules.
• Theoretical studies suggest:-
Such system of molecules (Resistant in nature) evolve so as to
optimize its replication efficiency under its inherent physical and
chemical limitations.

• In the next stage of evolution of life, it is thought that the

dominant N.As evolved the capacity to influence the efficiency
and accuracy of their own replication.

• This process occurs – in all the living systems through “Nucleic

acid directed ribosomal synthesis of enzymes that catalyze N.As
synthesis.
• According to the previously seen theory, if there is the synthesis of
N. A through “Nucleic acid directed ribosomal synthesis of
enzymes” in all the living beings that catalyze N.As synthesis.

• The question is:-

How Nucleic acid directed protein synthesis could have
occurred before ribosomes arose?

A plausible hypothesis is:-

“Evolution of self-replicating systems is that they initially
consisted entirely of RNA”.

This scenario is known as “RNA world”.

• Certain species of RNA exhibit enzymes like “Catalytic
properties”.

• Moreover, since Ribosomes are approximately 2/3 of RNA and

1/3 of proteins, it is plausible that the primordial ribosomes were
entirely RNA.

• The co-operative relationship between RNA and protein might

have arisen when these self-replicating protoribosomes evolved
the ability to influence the synthesis of proteins that increased the
efficiency or the accuracy of RNA synthesis.
From this point of view:-
“RNA is the primary substance of life; the participation of DNA
& protein were later refinements that increased the Darwinian
fitness of an already established self-replicating systems”.

The type of a system we studied so far was bounded by primordial “pond”.

So there was a “self replicating system”.

- This system had the property of developing into an efficient
component.
- Thus an efficient component got developed.
This “Self replicating system” – would have to share its benefits with all the other
inhabitants of the pond.
The question is:- “How did improvement came about?”
Answer is:- Compartmentalization.

Compartmentalization refers to generation of cells or formation of

cells. This eventually led into a developing of a biological system.

• Generation of cells would enable the system to acquire any improvement. Eg:-
Unicellular …….later on …….multicellular.

• This generation of cells has the advantage of holding together and protecting
the self-replicating molecules.

• This also helped the replicating molecules to spread beyond its “Pond” origin.
The next question is:- “How did cell wall or boundaries come into
existence?”
How cell boundaries first arose or even what they were made up
of………is rather unknown.

How ever what is known to us is:- “ What kind of features or

characteristics a cell wall must posses?

Eg:- it must be permeable – i.e – selectively transport substances

across their cell membranes.
One plausible theory to account for “how first cell membrane was
formed is………..
- firstly membranes arose as empty vesicles. These vesicles had
exteriors. This in turn helped to serve as attachment sites for certain
entities like enzymes and chromosomes.

- these exteriors also helped in facilitating function of these entities.

Evolution then flattened and folded these vesicles so that they enclosed
their associated molecular assemblies, there by defining the primordial
cells.
Rise of living system or living cell be understood by means of
two important elements:-

a) Life probably arose through the development of self-

replicating RNA molecule. (RNA world)

b) Development of metabolic Pathways, Photosynthesis

and Respiration.
b) Development of metabolic Pathways, Photosynthesis
and Respiration.
• Development of metabolic pathways, photosynthesis and respiration
occurred due to competition for energy resources.

• The entities, we talked about fit into Horowitz’s criteria for life, that
is……….exhibiting replication, catalysis and mutability.

• Primitive organism – replicated through polymerization.

• Primitive organism depended on “environment” (prebiotic soup) –

because it provided energy in the form of energy molecules like
ATP/Poly phosphates.
• When these energy molecules became less and not available then
the organism developed an enzymatic system to synthesize the
energy molecules.

• This lead to the formation of “energy producing metabolic

pathway”.

• But this in turn caused another “Energy crisis”.

- because these pathways consumed other pre-existing energy
rich substances.

• The increased level of this energy crisis led to the formation of

“Photosynthesis”.
• The formation of photosynthesis gave way to the supply of
inexhaustible energy supply by trapping the energy from Sun.

• This process consumed reducing agents such as H 2S.

• Eventual exhaustion of these substances led to the refinement of the

photosynthetic process.
• This improvised photosynthesis utilized ubiquitous H 2O as its
reducing agents.

• There by yielding O2 as by-product.

• “The discovery in 3.5 billion year old rocks, of what appears to be

fossilized cyanobacteria – like microorganism suggests that oxygen-
producing photosynthesis developed very early in the human history
of life”.
• But again – photosynthesis led to another problem.
• That is accumulation of highly reactive O 2.
• This interfered with existing metabolic apparatus.
• Therefore accumulation of O2 stimulated the development of
metabolic refinements that protected the organism from oxidative
damage.
• This led to the formation of “Respiration” (Oxidative metabolism).
• This utilizes the newly available O2 as oxidizing agent.
• O2 also responsible for formation of O 3 (Ozone layer).
In conclusion we can say:-

1. Basic replicative and metabolic apparatus of modern organisms

evolved quite early in the history of life.

2. Many modern prokaryotes appear to resemble their very ancient

ancestors.

3.The rise of eukaryotes occurred perhaps 2 billion years after

prokaryotes.

4.Multicellular organisms are a relatively recent evolutionary

innovation, probably appeared only 700 million years ago.