The Origin and

Evolution of Life
on Earth
When did life begin?

 Quite early in Earth’s history

 Cannot pinpoint time, but can narrow down a time
period with 3 lines of evidence
When did life begin?

 Stromatolites (3.5 bill. Yr)

 Rocks with distinctive layer
structure
 Look identical to living
mats of microbes
 Layers of microbes and
sediment
 Top layer uses
photosynthesis
 Lower layers use top layer’s
byproducts
When did life begin?

 Microfossils dating to
3.5 billion years ago
 Difficult to
distinguish from
mineral structures
 Analysis shows that
some structures
contain organic
carbon
-found in at least 3 sites
Living Fossils

 DNA used as living fossil

 The more alike the DNA sequence between species, the
more recent their divergence and extinction of their
common ancestor
Living Fossils

 Bacteria and Archaea: genetic material NOT separated

from rest of cell
 Eukarya: DNA separated from rest of cell by membrane
 Extremophiles (live near deep-sea vents or in hot
springs) closest to root of tree of life
Where did life begin?

 Land is unlikely
 No O2, no ozone: UV destroys molecular bonds
 Shallow ponds
 Once favored, full of organic material
 When evaporated, organic chemical concentration
increases making it easier to combine complex
molecules leading to life
 Current experiments indicate lack of chemical
energy sufficient to support life
 Deep-sea vents/hot springs
 DNA evidence suggests that early organisms survived
in conditions similar to deep-sea vents
 Plenty of chemical energy available
How did life begin?

 Simplest organisms today and those dated 3.5 billion

years ago are remarkable advanced
 What are the natural chemical processes that could
have led to life?
 Assumptions
 Lifebegan under chemical conditions
of early Earth
 Life did not migrate to Earth
Organic Chemistry on Early
Earth
 In 1920’s, scientists hypothesized that the chemicals in
the early atmosphere, fueled by sunlight, would
spontaneously create organic molecules
 Tested by Miller-Urey experiment 1950’s
Miller-Urey Experiment

 First flask partially filled with water and

heated to produce water vapor (sea)
 Water vapor was moved to a second flask
where methane and ammonia vapor was
added (atmosphere)
 Electric sparks (lightening) in second flask
was energy source for chemical reactions
 Below second flask, water vapor cooled
(rain) and recycled to first flask (sea)
 Result: turned brown with amino acids
and other complex organic molecules
Variations of Miller-Urey
Experiment
 Different mixes of gases to represent atmosphere
 Different energy sources, like UV (sunlight)
 Results: ALL PRODUCE AMINO ACIDS AND COMPLEX
ORGANIC MOLECULES
 Not as much as original experiment
 MUST be more sources of organic material
Sources of Organic Molecules

 Chemical reactions in atmosphere

 Lab experiments show this is likely
 Organic material brought by impacts
 Chemical analysis of comets and carbonaceous chondrites show that they have
organic molecules
 Chemical reactions near deep-sea vents
 Heat from undersea volcano can fuel chemical reactions between water and
minerals
Transition from chemistry to
biology
 Organic molecules are building blocks of life.
 Low probability of forming life even if repeated several times.
 Intermediate steps of high probability are necessary
Search for Self-Replicating
Molecule
 Work backward from organisms that live today
 DNA is double-stranded = complicated
 RNA obvious candidate, more simple than DNA
 Hereditary information
 Can serve as template for replication
 Fewer steps to produce backbone structure
Search for Self-Replicating
Molecule
 Problem: RNA and DNA require enzymes to replicate
 In 1980’s determined that RNA might catalyze their own
replication instead of other enzymes
 Early Earth was an RNA-world
Search for Replicating
Molecule
 On Early Earth, short strands of RNA-like
molecules were produced spontaneously
partially or completely
 RNA-like molecules that could replicate faster
with less errors soon dominated population
 Copying errors introduced mutations, ensuring
the production of many variations of successful
molecules
 Allowed molecular evolution to continue
 RNA-world gave way to DNA-world
 DNA less prone to copying errors
 DNA more flexible hereditary material
Assembling Complex
Organic Molecules
 Organic soup was too dilute to favor the
creation of complex organic molecules
 Lab experiment with possible solution:
When hot sand, clay or rock is placed in
dilute organic solution, complex
molecules self-assemble
 Organic molecules stick to surface of clay
 Increases density and likelihood of reactions
 Strands of RNA up to 100 bases have been
produced this way
Early Cell-like Structures

 Advantages to
enclosing enzymes
with RNA molecules
 Close proximity
increases rate of
reactions between
them
 Isolate contents from
outside world
Early Cell-like Structures

 Lab experiments suggest that membrane structures

existed on early Earth
 Form spontaneously
 Cool down warm-water solution of amino acids
 Mix lipids (fats) with water
Nonliving Pre-Cells have
Lifelike Behavior
 Grow in size until
unstable then split to
form a ‘daughter’
cell
 Selectively allow
other types of
molecules to pass
in/out of membrane
 Store energy in the
form of electric
voltage
Handedness

 Organic molecules come in left- and right-handed forms

 Non-biological processes have not preference
 Biological processes DO have a preference
 If both left- and right-handed RNA developed, why did
one die out?
Quick Summary
Panspermia?

 Panspermia = life originated elsewhere and migrated to

Earth
 Life began in rock, then kicked off the planet by an
impact
 Support: organic material is everywhere, and some
bacteria can withstand large amounts of radiation and
go dormant under low atmospheric conditions
Panspermia

 2 schools of thought
 School 1: life did not evolve as easily as imagined on early Earth in
timescales we’ve determined
 Problem: entire solar system was under heavy bombardment at the same
time
 Other possibility: interstellar migration
 Problem: rock to be ejected out of its own system, then fall into ours and
hit the tiny planet of Earth
Panspermia

 School 2: life evolved easily and was everywhere with

suitable conditions
 Earth was not first planet with suitable conditions
 Migration of life from another planet (say Mars)
dominated before early life on Earth could
 We’re Martians!!!!
Panspermia

 Martian meteorites
 Both have possible
fossil evidence of life
on Mars
Living cyanobacteria Microfossils in carbonaceous chondrites
Early Evolution and Rise of O2

 First organisms had simple metabolism

 Atmosphere was O2 free, must have been anaerobic
 Probably chemoheterotrophs
 Obtained nutrients from organic material
 Obtained nutrients from inorganic material
 Modern archaea appear to be close to the root of the tree of life
 Obtaining energy from chemical reactions involving hydrogen, sulfur and iron
compounds (all abundant on early Earth)
Early Evolution

 Natural selection probably resulted in rapid

diversification
 Modern DNA has enzymes that reduce the rate of
mutations
 RNA is not so lucky, more likely to have copying errors
 Higher mutation rate in early evolution than now
Photosynthesis

 Most important new metabolic process

evolved gradually
 Organisms that lived close to ocean
surface probably developed means of
absorbing sunlight (UV in particular)
 Once absorbed, developed method of
turning it into energy
 Modern organisms of purple sulfur bacteria
and green sulfur bacteria much like early
photosynthetic microbes, use H2S instead
of H2O for photosynthesis
Photosynthesis

 Using water for photosynthesis developed later,

perhaps 3.5 billion years ago
 First appearing in cyanobacteria (blue-green algae)
 By product of O2, released into atmosphere
 Changed the world!
Rise of O2
O is highly reactive
2
 All initial O would react with rock and minerals
2
in water
 O could not accumulate in atmosphere until
2
surface rock was saturated
 Rocks 2-3 bill. Yr old called banded iron
formations, show atmosphere had <1% of
current amount of O2
 Rock evidence suggests that O amounts in
2
atmosphere began to rise about 2.0 bill. Yr ago
 Clear evidence of O near current levels
2
appears only 200 million yr ago
 Find charcoal (fossil fuel)
 Indicates enough O in atmosphere for fires to burn
2
Rise of O2

 Rise of O2 would have created a crisis for life

 O2 reacts with bonds of organic materials
 Surviving species avoided effects of O2 because they
lived or migrated to underground locations
 Many anaerobic microbes found in such locales today
 Early Eukaryotes

 Fossil evidence dates to 2.1 bill. Yr ago

 Dates to when O2 rising in atmosphere
 DNA evidence suggests that prokaryotes and
eukaryotes separated from common ancestor
much earlier
O played a key role in eukaryote evolution
2
 Cellscan produce energy more efficiently using
aerobic metabolism than anaerobic metabolism
 Adaptations of aerobic organisms could develop
adaptations that required more energy that would
be available for anaerobic organisms
The Cambrian Explosion

 Animal branch of the tree of life

 Different classifications based on body plan
 All known body plans made appearance in fossil record in a time span of
40 million years
 <1% of Earth’s age
 Animal diversity began 545 mill. Yr ago
Colonization of Land

 Life flourished where liquid water exist

 Life on land was more complicated
 Had to develop means of collecting solar energy above
ground and nutrients below
 Life in shallow ponds or edges of lakes
 Water evaporates
 Natural selection favored that which could withstand
periods of drought
 Colonization of Land

 DNA evidence suggests that plants evolved from

an algae
 Ittook only 75 mill. Yrs for animals to follow
plants out of water
Mass Extinctions

 Possible Causes
 Impacts
 Impact sites found for K-T boundary
 Suspected for Permian extinction 245 mill yr ago
 Active volcanism
 Climate change
 External influence for copying errors
 Increase in solar particles or radiation hitting surface
 Local supernova
Primate Evolution

 Monkeys, apes, lemurs and humans have common

ancestor that lived in trees
 Tree life
 Limber arms for swinging between branches
 Eyes in front of head for depth perception
 Offspring would be born more helpless than other animals
Emergence of Humans

 Did NOT evolve from gorillas or monkeys

 Share a common ancestor that lived just a few million years ago
 98% of human genome is identical to genome of the chimpanzee
 2% difference in genome separates the success of humans verses chimps
 Also indicates evolution of intelligence is complex
Emergence of Humans
 Emergence of Humans

 After hominids diverged from chimps and

gorillas, evolution has followed a complex path
 Numerous hominids species existed, some
during the same time period
 All humans are the same species
 First
skull fossils that are identical to modern
human skulls dates to 100,000 yr old
 Ourancestors shared the Earth with
Neanderthals
 Went extinct 35,000 years ago
Emergence of Humans