Origin of Life studies have a nearly-impossible goal: understanding nature through the comprehension of its origins and its complexities. As a growing field with poorly-defined borders, Origin of Life studies profit from progress in other disciplines.
This book proposes both an overview of this large area and an in-depth look at the opinions and results obtained by some of the active contributors of this fascinating and deeply thought-provoking matter.
The topics are presented in a bottom-up order, first touching on the habitability of the universe, then the rationale behind meaningful prebiotic chemistry, the possible or probable prebiotic chemical frames, the problem of chirality, and moving on through the role of minerals in biogenesis, biogenic fertile environments, the in-and-out problem as solved by vesicles physics, the evolution of the codes, the structure of LUCA and its proto metabolisms and the meaning of complex extant biological biomorphs, as exemplified by viroids.
These topics and the reasoning within the chapters are provided against the backdrop of the evolution of information and complexity.
Table of Contents
Introduction xi
Ernesto DI MAURO
Chapter 1 The Emergence of Life-Nurturing Conditions in the Universe 1
Juan VLADILO
1.1 Defining properties of life 1
1.1.1 Implications of the defining properties 2
1.2 Life-supporting conditions and environments 5
1.2.1 Chemical ingredients 6
1.2.2 Physical conditions 7
1.2.3 Habitable worlds 9
1.3 Setting the stage for chemistry and life in the Universe 10
1.3.1 Births of the laws of chemistry 10
1.3.2 Production of chemical elements 11
1.3.3 Assemblage of prebiotic molecules 12
1.3.4 Origin of water 14
1.3.5 Appearance of rocky planets 15
1.4 The habitable Universe 16
1.4.1 Circumstellar habitable zones 17
1.4.2 Galactic habitable zones 19
1.5 Planetary environments suitable for the origin of life 20
1.5.1 Abiogenesis on planetary surfaces 20
1.5.2 Abiogenesis in the oceans 22
1.5.3 Implications for the search for life outside Earth 23
1.6 The quest for inhabited worlds 23
1.7 References 24
Chapter 2 Chirality and the Origins of Life 31
Guillaume LESEIGNEUR and Uwe MEIERHENRICH
2.1 Introduction to chirality 32
2.2 The asymmetry of life 35
2.3 The origin of homochirality 37
2.3.1 Stochastic theories 37
2.3.2 Deterministic theories 38
2.4 Space missions and the search for life and its origins 41
2.4.1 Rosetta 43
2.4.2 ExoMars 45
2.5 References 48
Chapter 3 The Role of Formamide in Prebiotic Chemistry 55
Raffaele SALADINO, Giovanna COSTANZO and Bruno Mattia BIZZARRI
3.1 Introduction 55
3.2 Effect of minerals and self-organization in the prebiotic chemistry of formamide 57
3.2.1 Surface catalysis and geochemical scenarios 57
3.2.2 Chemomimesis, circularity and thermodynamic niches 59
3.2.3 Nucleosides phosphorylation 62
3.3 Continuity and mineral complexity 63
3.4 Energy-driven selectivity 67
3.5 References 68
Chapter 4 A Praise of Imperfection: Emergence and Evolution of Metabolism 79
Juli PERETÓ
4.1 From Darwin to Jacob: perfection does not exist 79
4.2 Protometabolic networks 82
4.3 Enzyme promiscuity and metabolic innovation 86
4.4 Promiscuity, moonlighting and the essence of life 91
4.5 Acknowledgments 93
4.6 References 93
Chapter 5 Viruses, Viroids and the Origins of Life 99
David DEAMER and Marie-Christine MAUREL
5.1 How were viruses discovered? A brief history 100
5.2 Viral diversity 101
5.3 Viral structure and function 103
5.4 Viruses and mammalian genomes 106
5.5 Role of viruses in human evolution, health and disease 107
5.6 Viroids may be a link to ancient evolutionary pathways 108
5.7 Origin and evolution of viroids 109
5.8 Conclusion 111
5.9 References 112
Chapter 6 Is the Heterotrophic Theory of the Origin of Life Still Valid? 117
Antonio LAZCANO
6.1 Introduction 117
6.2 The roaring 20s 118
6.3 Coacervates as models of precellular structures 121
6.4 Precellular evolution and the emergence of cells 123
6.5 Final remarks: does Oparin still matter? 128
6.6 Acknowledgments 130
6.7 References 130
Chapter 7 Making Biochemistry-Free (Generalized) Life in a Test Tube 135
Juan PÉREZ-MERCADER
7.1 Summary 135
7.2 Introduction and background 136
7.3 Laboratory implementation of an artificial autonomous, and self-organized functional system 140
7.4 More physics and chemistry working together: phoenix, self-reproduction via spores, population growth and chemotaxis 144
7.5 Discussion and conclusions 152
7.6 Acknowledgments 153
7.7 Appendices: Some additional emergent features in PISA "powered" synthetic biochemistry free protocells 154
7.7.1 Chemotactic behavior 154
7.7.2 Adaptive behavior and click-PISA 155
7.7.3 Competitive exclusion principle and iniferter PISA 156
7.7.4 PISA and its control by chemical automata 156
7.7.5 Integrating PISA and information control with the Belousov-Zhabotinsky chemical reaction 157
7.8 References 159
Chapter 8 Hydrothermalism for the Chemical Evolution Toward the Simplest Life-Like System on the Hadean Earth 163
Kunio KAWAMURA
8.1 Introduction 163
8.1.1 Realistic life-like systems on the Hadean Earth 163
8.1.2 Water in universe 165
8.1.3 Two-gene hypothesis, minerals and high temperature 168
8.2 Hydrothermal environment for the chemical evolution of biomolecules 170
8.2.1 As an energy source 170
8.2.2 Temperature and pressure 171
8.2.3 Biochemical interactions 172
8.2.4 Minerals and the thermodynamically open system 174
8.3 Hydrothermal methodologies regarding the origin-of-life study 175
8.3.1 Technical background of research tools for hydrothermal reactions 175
8.3.2 Recent development using flow system 176
8.4 RNA world versus hydrothermalism 178
8.4.1 Stability and accumulation of RNA 178
8.4.2 RNA-based life-like system under hydrothermal environments 182
8.5 Future outlook and conclusions 185
8.6 Acknowledgments 186
8.7 References 186
Chapter 9 Studies in Mineral-Assisted Protometabolisms 193
Jean-François LAMBERT, Louis TER-OVANESSIAN and Marie-Christine MAUREL
9.1 Metabolism, protometabolism and minerals 193
9.2 Adsorption on mineral surfaces 196
9.2.1 Adsorption mechanisms 196
9.2.2 Adsorption selectivities 197
9.3 Mineral surfaces and reaction thermodynamics 198
9.3.1 Minerals as reagents 198
9.3.2 Concentrating reagents from the solution 199
9.3.3 Altering free enthalpies of reaction 201
9.3.4 Platforms to capture free energy from macroscopic sources (space gradients and time fluctuations) 202
9.4 Minerals and reaction kinetics: heterogeneous catalysis 204
9.4.1 Lessons from industrial heterogeneous catalysis 204
9.4.2 What can heterogeneous catalysts do? 205
9.4.3 Reaction selectivity 206
9.5 A case study: primordial synthesis of pyrimidines 207
9.6 Conclusion 209
9.7 References 210
Chapter 10 A Rationale for the Evolution of the Genetic Code in Relation to the Stability of RNA and Protein Structures 217
Andrew TRAVERS
10.1 Introduction 217
10.2 Codon-anticodon recognition 218
10.3 Concluding remarks 226
10.4 Acknowledgments 226
10.5 References 226
List of Authors 231
Index 233
