LECTURE ONE

ORIGIN OF LIFE

1.1 INTRODUCTION

Before, we can address the origin of life, we must first consider what qualifies something as
“living”. What is life? This is a difficult question to answer, largely because life itself is not a
simple concept. If you try to define life you will find that it is not an easy task, because of the
loose manner in which the term is used. However, all living things on earth share certain
general properties; these properties define what we mean by life. The following fundamental
properties are shared by all organisms on earth.

 Cellular organization: All organisms consist of one or more cells; cells are complex,
organized assemblages of molecules enclosed within membranes.
 Sensitivity: All organisms respond to stimuli, though not always to the same stimuli
in the same ways.
 Growth: All living things assimilate energy and use it to grow, a process called
metabolism. Plants, algae, and some bacteria use sunlight to create covalent carbon-
carbon bonds from CO2 and H2O through photosynthesis. This transfer of the energy
in covalent bonds is essential to life on earth.
 Development: Multi-cellular organisms undergo systematic gene-directed changes as
they grow and mature.
 Reproduction: All living things reproduce, passing on traits from one generation to
the next. Although some organisms live for a very long time, no organism lives
forever, as far as we know. Because all organisms die, ongoing life is impossible
without reproduction.
 Regulation: All organisms have regulatory mechanisms that coordinate internal
processes.
 Homeostasis: All living things maintain relatively constant internal conditions,
different from their environment.
 Heredity: All organisms on earth posses a genetic system that is based on the
replication of a long complex molecule called DNA. This mechanism allows for
adaptation and evolution over time, also distinguishing the characteristics of living
things.

LECTURE OBJECTIVES
 By the end of this lecture you should be able to:

(i) Explain the origin and nature of life;

(ii) List the eight properties of life;

(iii) Describe how the early earth was like;

(iv) Compare earliest living organisms to modern day organisms.

1.2 IDEAS ABOUT THE ORIGIN OF LIFE

The question on how life originated on earth is difficult to answer. However, in principle
there are at least three possibilities.

1.2.1 Special Creation

Life-forms may have been put on earth by supernatural or divine forces. The hypothesis of
special creation, that a divine God created life is at the core of most major religions.

1.2.2 Extraterrestrial Origin

Life may not have originated on earth at all; instead, life may have infested earth from some
other planet. The hypotheses of panspermia proposes that meteors or cosmic dust may have
carried life forms to earth, perhaps as an extraterrestrial infection of spores originating on a
planet from a distant stars. For example recent suggestions of fossils in rocks from Mars, and
the discovery of liquid water on under the surface of mars and Jupiter’s ice shrouded moon
Europa might lend credibility to this idea.

1.2.3 Spontaneous Origin

Most scientists accept the hypothesis of spontaneous origin that life evolved from inanimate
matter. In this view, the force leading to life was selection. As changes in molecules
increased their stability and caused them to persist longer, these molecules could initiate more
and more complex associations culminating in the evolution of cells. Spontaneous origin is
the only testable hypothesis of life’s origin currently available and it provides the only
scientific explanation that can be tested and potentially disproved.

1.2.4 Experiments that refuted Spontaneous origin theory.

Francesco Redi tested the hypothesis by placing fresh meat in open containers. As expected
the dead meat began to attract insects and soon the meat was swarming with maggots which
later on developed into flies. When jars were tightly covered no maggots were produced. He
then covered the jars with porous gauze and later on maggots were observed on the gauze. He
concluded that, flies are necessary to produce flies.

He concluded that all life comes from life. He wrote this in his famous book Omne vivum ex
vivo

Louis Pasteur Experiment

In order to determine whether sterile nutritional broth may spontaneously produce microbial
life, Louis Pasteur devised an experiment. He set up two experiments as follows;

In order to destroy any existing bacteria, Pasteur poured nutritional broth to flasks, bent the
flasks' necks into S shapes, and then cooked the stock. Pasteur removed the swan necks from
the flasks in Experiment 1 after the broth had been sterilized, exposing the nutritious broth
inside to air coming from above. The flasks in Experiment 2 were left alone.

Over time, dust particles from the air fell into the broken flasks of Experiment 1. In
Experiment 2, dust particles remained near the tip of the swan necks, but could not travel
against gravity into the flasks, keeping the nutrient broth sterile.

The broth in the broken flasks quickly became cloudy–a sign that it teemed with microbial
life. However, the broth in the unbroken flasks remained clear. Without the introduction of
dust–on which microbes can travel–no life arose. Thus, the Louis Pasteur experiment refuted
the notion of spontaneous generation.
Therefore, Pasteur’s experiment refuted the notion that living organisms arose from
spontaneous generation.

1.3 EARLY EARTH

After the big bang, the primitive earth cooled and its rocky crust formed, volcanoes blasted
enormous amounts of material and gases from the earth’s molten core skyward. These gases
formed a cloud around the earth and were held as an atmosphere by the earth’s gravity. The
early atmosphere contained carbon dioxide and hydrogen gas, along with significant amount
of water. It also might have contained compounds in which hydrogen atoms were bounded
with other light elements (sulphur, nitrogen and carbon). These compounds would have been
hydrogen sulphide (H2S), ammonia (NH3), and methane (CH4). In addition the atmosphere
was thought to be rich in hydrogen gas (H2). The availability of hydrogen atoms and their
associated electrons made such an atmosphere to be referred as a reducing atmosphere.
Debris from the forming solar system slammed into early earth from 4.6 to 3.8 billion years
ago, keeping the surface molten hot. As the bombardment slowed down, temperatures
dropped down. By about 3.8 billion years ago, ocean temperatures are thought to have
dropped to 49-88°C (120-190°F). Between 3.8 and 3.5 billon years ago, life first appeared on
earth. The first step in the origin of life, therefore, probably took place in a hot reducing
atmosphere, devoid of gaseous oxygen, and different from the atmosphere that exists now.

Therefore one scenario for the origin of life is that it originated in this dilute, hot smelly soup
of ammonia, formaldehyde, formic acid, cyanide, methane, hydrogen sulphide, and organic
hydrocarbons. Whether at the ocean’s edge, in hydrothermal deep sea vents, or elsewhere, the
consensus among scientist is that life arose spontaneously from these early waters about four
billion years ago.
ACTIVITY

1. Molecules that are the building blocks of living organisms form

1.4 FROM SIMPLE SINGLE CELLED ANIMALS TO COMPLEX

1.4.1 Microfossils

The fossils found in ancient rocks show an obvious progression from simple to complex
organisms, beginning about 3.5 billion years ago. The earliest evidence of life appears in
microfossils, these are fossilized forms of microscopic life about 1-2 micrometers in
diameter, single-celled, lacked external appendages, and having little evidence of internal
structure. The microfossil physically resembles present day bacteria. Organisms with simple
body plan are called prokaryotes, from Greek words meaning “before nucleus”, because
they lack a nucleus a spherical body characteristics of more complex cells of eukaryotes (see
Lecture nine). Judging from fossil records eukaryotes did not appear until about 1.5 billion
years ago. Therefore, for at least 2 billion years bacteria were the only organism that existed.

Figure 1.1: Cyanobacteria Microfossils

Source: www.ucmp.edu

1.4.2 Ancient Bacteria: Archaebacteria

Most organisms living today are adapted to the relatively mild conditions of present-day
earth. However if we look in unusual environments, we encounter organisms that are quite
remarkable, differing in form and metabolism from other living things. These organisms are
sheltered from evolutionary alteration in unchanging habitats that resemble earth’s early
environment. These living relics are the surviving representatives of the first ages of life on
earth. In places such as the oxygen free depths of the black sea or the boiling waters of hot
water springs and deep sea vents, we can find bacteria living at very high temperatures
without oxygen.

These unusual bacteria are called archaebacteria, from the Greek words “ancient ones.”
Among the first to be studied in details are the methanogens, or methane producing bacteria,
which are the most primitive bacteria that exist today. These organisms are typically simple
in form and are able to grow only in an oxygen-free environment, in fact oxygen poison
them. Therefore, they grow without air “anaerobically”. The methane producing bacteria
convert CO2 and H2 into methane gas (CH4). They resemble all other bacteria in that they
posses hereditary machinery based on DNA, a cell membrane composed of lipid molecules,
an exterior cell wall, and a metabolism based on an energy-carrying molecule called ATP.
However, the resemblance ends at that point.

The methane-producing bacteria are survivors from an earlier time when oxygen gas was
absent. Other bacteria that fall in into this category are some of those that live in very salty
environments like the Dead Sea; these are called extreme halophiles or salt lovers. Those that
live in very hot environments such as hydrothermal volcanic vents under the ocean are called
extreme thermophiles or heat lovers.

1.4.3 Eubacteria (True Bacteria)

The second major groups of bacteria, the eubacteria, have very strong cell walls and simpler
architecture. Most bacteria living today are eubacteria. Included in this group are bacteria that
have evolved the ability to capture the energy of light and transform it into the energy of
chemical bonds within cells. These organisms are photosynthetic, as are plants and algae.

One type of photosynthetic eubactreria that has been important in the history of life on earth
is the cynobacteria, sometimes called “blue-green algae”. They have the same kind of
chlorophyll pigments that is most abundant in plants and algae, as well as other pigments that
are blue or red. Cynobacteria produce oxygen as a result of their photosynthetic activities,
and when they appeared at least 3 billion years ago, they played a decisive role in increasing
the concentration of free oxygen in earth’s atmosphere from below 1% to the current 21%. As
the concentration of oxygen increased, so did the amount of ozone in the upper layers of the
atmosphere. The thickening of ozone layer afforded protection from most of the ultraviolet
radiation from the sun, radiation that is highly destructive to proteins and nucleic acids.
Certain cynobacteria are also responsible for the accumulation of massive limestone deposits.

1.4.4 Eukaryotic Cells

In rocks of about 1.5 billion years old, we begin to see the first microfossils that are
noticeable different in appearance from the earlier simpler forms. These cells are much larger
than bacteria and have internal membranes and thicker walls. Many of these fossils have
elaborate shapes, some exhibit highly branched filaments, tetrahedral configurations, or
spines.

These early fossils mark a major event in the evolution of life: A new kind of organism had
appeared. These new cells are called eukaryotes, from Greek word for “true” and “nucleus,”
because they possess an internal structure called nucleus. All organisms other than the
bacteria are eukaryotes. The early eukaryotes rapidly evolved to produce all of the diverse
organisms that inhabit the earth today, including human beings.
Figure 1.2: A plant eukaryotic cell

Source: www.libraryguest.org

1.4.5 Multi-cellular Organisms

Some single eukaryotic cells began living in association with others in colonies. Eventually
individual members of the colony began to assume different duties, and the colony began to
show characteristics of a single individual. Practically every organism big enough to see with
unaided eye is a multicellular, including all animals and plants. The great advantage of
multicellularity is that, it fosters specialization: some cells devote their entire energies to one
task, other cells to another. Few innovations have had a great impact on the history of life as
the specialization made possible by multicellularity.

SUMMARY

In this lecture, we have seen that all living things are characterized by
cellular organization, growth, reproduction, and heredity. Other properties
commonly exhibited by living things include movement and sensitivity to
stimuli. That of the three hypotheses of how life might have originated, only
the theory of spontaneous origin provides a scientifically testable
explanation. When life appeared on earth, the atmosphere was devoid of
oxygen gas and very hot. It is believed that these conditions fuelled
chemical reactions that gave rise to life. All bacteria living today are
members of either Archaebacteria or Eubacteria. For at least the first two
billon years of life on earth, all organisms were bacteria. About 1.5 billion
years ago, the first eukaryotes appeared. Biologist place living organisms
into six general categories called kingdoms (see next lecture). The two most
ancient kingdoms contain bacteria.