Introduction
Summary
Miller-Urey test
Evidence of Early Life Forms
In general
References
The history of evolution from the first soup is long, complex and winding. Today, there is an amazing variety of living species, from the smallest bacteria or archaea to the largest trees and mammals. Life appeared billions of years ago, but what led to this is a great mystery. This article will discuss the theory of abiogenesis, the theory that life arose from non-living molecules.
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Summary
It is generally believed that life on earth appeared about 3.5 billion years ago. The theory of abiogenesis suggests that the first forms of life that arose in the first soup were simple organisms that gradually became more complex over many years.
Abiogenesis is different from the ancient theory of spontaneous generation, which states that living things arise from non-living things by themselves, for example, maggots produced spontaneously from decaying flesh. This hypothesis was disproved in the 19th centuryth century through experiments by scientists, including Louis Pasteur.
Enzymes give organisms the ability to make carbon-carbon bonds more easily. However, this process requires a lot of energy without enzymatic activity, which creates a big problem: how did the organisms produce the molecular blocks of the bacteria before enzymes? This problem was used to try to disprove the theory of evolution in the early days of evolutionary science.
Biogenesis is the discovery of life from reproduction. It is possible that this was preceded by abiogenesis, and once the Earth’s atmosphere took its shape today, abiogenesis would not have been possible.
A breakthrough in the field came in the 1920s with the work of Haldane and Oparin, both of whom suggested that organic molecules could form in thin air and that the existence of energy sources could good. Their work formed the basis of subsequent studies in the study of abiogenesis.
Miller-Urey test
Another important event in the theory of abiogenesis occurred in 1952 with the famous Miller-Urey experiment. Stanley Miller and Harold Urey proved how organic life can arise spontaneously from inorganic molecules in the conditions described by Haldane and Oparin.
In their experiment, Miller and Urey used a highly reducing atmosphere containing a mixture of hydrogen, ammonia, methane, and water vapor. A mixture of precursor molecules that mimic the original soup were subjected to high voltage for a long time, and the samples were analyzed after the experiments. Studies of the resulting mixture revealed that simple molecules began to form the complex molecules necessary for life.
Since this first experiment, several studies have used the method of Miller and Urey to produce complex organic molecules, including proteins and RNA, to strengthen the evidence of abiogenesis. However, some scientists argue that this theory does not take into account energy sources such as lightning or the size of lightning in the first place.
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Evidence of Early Life Forms
Some scientists theorize that life first appeared in deep ocean hydrothermal vents because of favorable conditions for the production of organic molecules from non-living matter. Fossilized organisms have been discovered that appear to have settled in hydrothermal vents shortly after the oceans began to form in the Hadean eon.
Other evidence of early life has been found in many parts of the world, with biogenic graphite found in Greenland being 3.7 billion years old. Rock formations in northern Quebec have shown that the first forms of life may have existed as far back as 4.28 billion years ago, pushing back the generally accepted age of the origin of life in about a billion years. Zircons found in Australia have provided evidence of life 4.1 billion years ago.
Many scientists have proposed the theory of the RNA world, which means that before the creation of DNA, which is found in many forms of life on Earth, the replicating RNA molecules were powerful. Elucidating how change in DNA, proteins and complex organisms occurred is the main challenge in proving this theory. Some scientists have claimed that even the first forms of life may have existed before this.
In general
The exact duration of life on Earth is a matter of scientific debate. However, no matter how ancient life is, in the last few hundred years, organic molecules and living things have evolved from a complex and dynamic combination of molecules.
The theory of abiogenesis has a long history, but studies like the Urey-Miller experiments and subsequent genomic studies to elucidate the last ancestor of all life on Earth have revealed a rich story that continues to open new chapters in our understanding. the origin of life.
The theory of abiogenesis can even help with the search for extraterrestrial life, with one school of thought asserting that life structures could have been brought to Earth first by comets and asteroids.