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PubMed1992

Viral sex, levels of selection, and the origin of life.

Several issues in Chao's related paper J. theor. Biol. (1991, 153, 229-246) are revisited. It is argued that mixes of segments from different viral coinfection groups cannot be regarded as sex, unless one is willing to accept that these groups are replicators and individuals. But, because selection in coinfection groups is dynamically analogous to that in trait groups in structured demes, one should also regard these latter groups as replicators. This approach is unacceptable since the groups in question have irregular ploidies, an unfixed number of parents, and no rules analogous to those of meiosis. It is emphasized, however, that the effective presence of neighbour-modulated fitness can ensure dynamical coexistence of covirus segments, even if the equal net reproduction rate within groups is not warranted. It seems that during the origin of coviruses from complete viruses, a higher-level evolutionary unit has become disintegrated, whereas during the origin of life a higher-level unit, the protocell, has emerged from lower-level ones, i.e. unlinked, replicating genes. These two gene-level systems are not homologous, but analogous. Although it is true that the resistance to parasites and the need to avoid a mutational collapse of the genome are likely to have called for some compartmentation in precellular stages of evolution, no clear demonstration, that the proposed mechanisms (the compartmentalized hypercycle and the stochastic corrector model) do in fact solve the error threshold problem, exists. Neither has a plausible mode of protocellular sex been suggested.

Origin of Life↗
PubMed1998

The origin of life--a review of facts and speculations.

Three popular hypotheses attempt to explain the origin of prebiotic molecules: synthesis in a reducing atmosphere, input in meteorites and synthesis on metal sulfides in deep-sea vents. It is not possible to decide which is correct. It is also unclear whether the RNA world was the first biological world or whether some simpler world preceded it.

Evolution, Chemical↗
PubMed1989

Bioceramics and the origin of life.

Creation of life involves establishing an organism that is capable of self-maintenance, self-reproduction, and adjustment to a changing environment. A Bioactive Substrate Theory of the origin of life is proposed, where the function of the bioactive substrates was to achieve the irreversible ordering of macromolecules into replicative structures. The ordering was a result of six precytic ordering factors which provide the mechanisms for simultaneous formation of primitive codonic-bases, anabolic processes and energy-producing, catabolic processes on bioactive inorganic glassy crystalline assemblages. Time dependent changes in the isoelectric point of the inorganic assemblages enabled the anabolic and catabolic processes to be isolated within the same bilipid membrane. The enormous diversity of inorganic glass-crystal assemblages associated with volcanic activity resulted in many alternative evolutionary pathways for the precytic structures, eventually producing the major genetic pathways for life observed today. The evidence for bioactive ordering factors is examined including selective adsorption of optically active amino acids on optically active mineral substrates and specific cellular responses to bioactive implant materials. The implications of this theory on the biochemical design of implants, and prevention of disease states in modern man are discussed.

Biocompatible Materials↗
PubMed2006

With a grain of salt: what halite has to offer to discussions on the origin of life.

This experimental study investigated how the dynamics of the crystallization of the evaporite mineral halite could affect the accumulation and preservation of organic macromolecules present in the crystallizing solution. Halite was grown under controlled conditions in the presence of polymer nanoparticles that acted as an analog to protocellular material. Optical microscopy, atomic force microscopy, and laser scanning confocal fluorescence microscopy were used to trace the localization of the nanoparticles during and after growth of halite crystals. The present study revealed that the organic nanoparticles were not regularly incorporated within the halite, but were very concentrated on its surfaces. Their distribution was controlled dominantly by the morphologic surface features of the mineral rather than by specific molecular interactions with an atomic plane of the mineral. This means that the distribution of organic molecules was controlled by surfaces like those of halite's evaporitic growth forms. The experiments with halite also demonstrated that a mineral need not continuously incorporate organic molecules during its crystallization to preserve those molecules: After rejection by (non-incorporation into) the crystallizing halite, the organic nanoparticles increased in concentration in the evaporating brine. They ultimately either adsorbed in rectilinear patterns onto the hopper-enhanced surfaces and along discontinuities within the crystals, or they were encapsulated within fluid inclusions. Of additional importance in origin-of-life considerations is the fact that halite in the natural environment rapidly can change its role from that of a protective repository (in the absence of water) to that of a source of organic particles (as soon as water is present) when the mineral dissolves.

Crystallization↗
PubMed2004

Prospects of a computational origin of life endeavor.

While the last century brought an exquisite understanding of the molecular basis of life, very little is known about the detailed chemical mechanisms that afforded the emergence of life on early earth. There is a broad agreement that the problem lies in the realm of chemistry, and likely resides in the formation and mutual interactions of carbon-based molecules in aqueous medium. Yet, present-day experimental approaches can only capture the synthesis and behavior of a few molecule types at a time. On the other hand, experimental simulations of prebiotic syntheses, as well as chemical analyses of carbonaceous meteorites, suggest that the early prebiotic hydrosphere contained many thousands of different compounds. The present paper explores the idea that given the limitations of test-tube approaches with regards to such a 'random chemistry' scenario, an alternative mode of analysis should be pursued. It is argued that as computational tools for the reconstruction of molecular interactions improve rapidly, it may soon become possible to perform adequate computer-based simulations of prebiotic evolution. We thus propose to launch a computational origin of life endeavor (http://ool.weizmann.ac.il/CORE), involving computer simulations of realistic complex prebiotic chemical networks. In the present paper we provide specific examples, based on a novel algorithmic approach, which constitutes a hybrid of molecular dynamics and stochastic chemistry. As one potential solution for the immense hardware requirements dictated by this approach, we have begun to implement an idle CPU harvesting scheme, under the title ool@home.

Computational Biology↗
PubMed2003

[Fermentation as the origin of life: discussions on blood in Italy in the late 17th century].

The article examines the correspondence (1701) between the Neapolitan mathematician Giacinto De Cristofaro and Domennico Guglielmini, professor of theoretical medicine at Padua, on the role of blood and on the fermentative process in the 'origin' of life. The discussion is set against the background of the lively Italian medical debates and experimentations on the function and composition of the blood. Works by Marcello Malpighi, Giacomo Sandri, Giovanni Maria Lancisi, Giorgio Baglivi, Giovanbattista Morgagni and Nicola Cirillo - all of them taking into account Robert Boyle's Natural History of the Blood (1683-4) - show that blood composition and heart motion were described in different ways, ranging from the adoption of chemical theories and experimentation to that of strictly mechanical explanations. Different positions about the role of the blood and of its fermentative motion reflect different views about the relationship between matter and life.

Blood↗
PubMed1988

Photoreduction of carbon dioxide by aqueous ferrous ion: An alternative to the strongly reducing atmosphere for the chemical origin of life.

We have shown that ferrous ion at neutral pH photoreduces water to hydrogen with a high quantum yield on excitation with near-ultraviolet light. This simple system also efficiently reduces carbon dioxide (bicarbonate ions) to formaldehyde. Overall, these reactions offer a solution to a dilemma confronting the standard or Oparin-Urey model of the origin of life. If carbon dioxide was the main form of carbon on the primitive earth, the ferrous photoreaction would have provided the reduced carbon necessary to form amino acids and other biogenetic molecules. We believe this system may have been the progenitor to the biological photosynthetic systems.

Journal Article↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Life's origin: the cosmic, planetary and biological processes.

From elements formed in interstellar furnaces to humans peering back at the stars, the evolution of life has been a long, intricate and perhaps inevitable process. Life as we know it requires a planet orbiting a star at just the right distance so that water can exist in liquid form. It needs a rich supply of chemicals and energy sources. On Earth, the combination of chemistry and energy generated molecules that evolved ways of replicating themselves and of passing information from one generation to the next. Thus, the thread of life began. This chart traces the thread, maintained by DNA molecules for much of its history, as it weaves its way through the primitive oceans, gaining strength and diversity along the way. Organisms eventually moved onto the land, where advanced forms, including humans, ultimately arose. Finally, assisted by a technology of its own making, life has reached back out into space to understand its own origins, to expand into new realms, and to seek other living threads in the cosmos.

Animals↗