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Classical Experiments

The document summarizes three classic experiments that modeled conditions on early Earth that may have enabled the origin and evolution of life: 1) Miller and Urey's electrical discharge experiment demonstrated that amino acids could form from simple gases like methane and ammonia with sparks as an energy source. 2) Fox's thermal synthesis experiment showed that heating and cooling a mixture of amino acids formed microscopic spheres that reproduced, demonstrating a possible path from chemicals to protocells. 3) Szostak's protocell experiment created fatty acid vesicles containing RNA that could replicate, supporting the idea that the basic components of genes and cells could have combined randomly to form self-replicating protocells capable of evolution.

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Shane Cagas Acao
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319 views

Classical Experiments

The document summarizes three classic experiments that modeled conditions on early Earth that may have enabled the origin and evolution of life: 1) Miller and Urey's electrical discharge experiment demonstrated that amino acids could form from simple gases like methane and ammonia with sparks as an energy source. 2) Fox's thermal synthesis experiment showed that heating and cooling a mixture of amino acids formed microscopic spheres that reproduced, demonstrating a possible path from chemicals to protocells. 3) Szostak's protocell experiment created fatty acid vesicles containing RNA that could replicate, supporting the idea that the basic components of genes and cells could have combined randomly to form self-replicating protocells capable of evolution.

Uploaded by

Shane Cagas Acao
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as TXT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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At the end of this lesson, you should be able to describe classic experiments that

model conditions which may have enabled the first forms of life to evolve.

How did life begin on Earth?

Learn about it!

About 4.6 billion years ago, the Earth began to exist. The existence of life, as
believed by many scientists, started from the moment the Earth’s environment became
stable to support life. Several theories were proposed to explain life’s origin.
One of these theories is the primordial soup theory proposed by Alexander Oparin
and John Haldane. According to this theory, life started in a primordial soup of
organic molecules. Chemicals from the atmosphere and some form of energy from
lightning combined to make amino acids which are the building blocks of protein.
Several scientists conducted different experiments that modeled conditions which
may have enabled the first life forms to evolve. Among these experiments are the
Electrical Discharge Experiment, Thermal Synthesis, and The Protocell Experiment.

Learn about it!

Electrical Discharge Experiment

Stanley Miller and Harold Urey verified the primordial soup theory by simulating
the formation of organic molecules on the early Earth. They confined methane,
ammonia, water, and hydrogen in a closed system and applied continuous electrical
sparks to trigger the formation of the building blocks of life. After a day, they
observed a change of color in the solution. After a week, the solution was tested,
and they found out that several amino acids were produced. The purpose of this
experiment was not to try and produce amino acids, rather, its purpose was to
explore the conditions of the early Earth and what the naturally occurring results
would be.

Learn about it!

Thermal Synthesis

Sidney Fox demonstrated in his experiment the origin of life using a specific
mixture of pure, dry amino acids. In his experiment, after heating the mixture, an
aqueous solution was formed and cooled into microscopic globules called protenoid
microspheres. The globules looked like coccoid bacteria and seemed to be budding,
which is a form of reproduction in some microorganisms. He claimed that the
protenoid microspheres constituted protocells – almost true cells, and multiplied
through division like true cells. He believed that these cells were the link
between the primordial environment and the true living cells.

Learn about it!

The Protocell Experiment

Jack Szostak contemplated on how early life forms formed in a primordial chemical
environment. He then thought that the simplest possible living cells or protocells
just required two components to be formed: a nucleic acid genome to transmit the
genetic information and a lipid sac which encapsulated the genome and let itself
grow and divide. Szostak built lipid sacs made in fatty acids and a replicase – an
RNA molecule that catalyzes its own replication, in the test tube. He found out
that lipid sacs with more RNA grew faster. He suggested that such test tube
evolution was possible. The results suggested that the early forms of life with
just a single gene, an RNA gene, could have undergone a Darwinian evolution.
Try it!

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