Advanced Biology Origin of Life Study Guide I. II. III. What is life? What are the characteristics of life?

Compare abiogenesis (spontaneous generation) to biogenesis. a. Can abiogenesis occur on Earth today? Why or why not? No, it can not occur. The reasons being is that there are organisms that will break down organic materials (use them as food) and the presence of oxygen b. What experiments were used to disprove the idea of abiogenesis? When did each of the following form? a. the universe b. the solar system c. the earth What is the theory for how the Earth formed? What is the theory for how the moon formed? Describe the conditions on early earth. a. What did the atmosphere consist of? Hydrogen, Ammonia, Methane and Water Vapor b. What was the land like? It was covered with molten rock c. Where did water come from? vapor from volcananoes and comets may have brought water What 5 conditions would have been necessary for life to form on Earth by rbon, Hydabiogenesis? Describe the importance of each condition. 1) Little or no oxygen; causes oxidation 2) Source of energy; solar energy; heat energy; chemical energy; electrical energy 3) Presence of Liquid Water 4) Appropriate chemicals; carbon; carbon compounds. H, O, N, C 5) Time; because eventually the odds will be in your favor Dehydration synthesis & hydrolysis Hydrolysis: H20 + polymer monomer + monomer Dehydration Synthesis: monomer + monomer + monomer polymer +2h20 a. Describe the general progression from elements to complex organic organic polymers? b. What elements were present in large numbers? Carbon, hyrdrogen, nitrogen, oxygen c. What conditions were necessary for creating polymers from monomers?

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d. What is the purpose of a catalyst? To speed up a chemical reaction/ it lowers the amount of energy needed to start a reaction Enzyme- an organic catalyst IX. What properties would you expect chemical aggregates to have that would allow them to survive and evolve? 1) Become larger (grow) and break into smaller aggregates (reproduce) 2) Accumulate monomers 3) Selectively permeable membrane 4) Catalyze some reactions a. What are the limiting factors that keep chemical aggregates from being considered living cells? 1) Reproduction 2) Ability to replicate/produce important monomers 3) Limited membrane 4) Limited metabolism X. What types of chemical aggregates would be selected for? a. What is meant by chemical selection? Because these things are not living, we cant call them natural selection. Its just chemicals clumping together, but since they can survice its called chemical selection. b. Why is longevity favored in chemical selection? We favor longevity in chemical selection because

c. Explain the importance of catalysts in the development of chemical aggregates. XI. Origin of Energy Metabolism a. What smaller molecules come together to form ATP? 3 phosphate group, adenine (nitrogenous base), ribose(5-carbon sugar) b. What role does ATP play in chemical aggregates or cells? How does it perform this role?

c. Is ATP readily available in the abiotic world?

d. What is membrane potential? What role does it play in energy metabolism? Give an example. e. Why is the ability to regenerate ATP, using the energy from a membrane potential, an important step in the development of chemical aggregates into cell? If they didnt regenerate ATP, they would not have any energy and their metabolism would fail. The coacervates would take on the 3 molecules that make up ATP; because of this ATP could have been made inorganically An aggregate takes the atp in and uses the energy and some would throw it away. Some aggregates may have the ability to recharge the energy in the ATP. Once they use the energy, the ions can get pumped out of equilibrium and defuse using the energy from the sun and recharge the battery of the ATP by adding phosphate groups and energy XII. Origin of Genetic Information a. What is the general pathway used by cells today to go from DNA to proteins? DNA transcribes into messenger RNA then in gets translated into a protein b. What came first, proteins or RNA??? Explain. The amino acids of proteins are present on early earth and are easily produced in this environment. Proteins can-not self replicate , and they cannot evolve into more advanced forms. The arguments that RNA came first is that the components that make up RNA are available in the environment. Another argument is that some can form without enzymes, and some RNA act as catalysts. A con for RNA would be that it is not easy to build nucleotides in an abiotic environment. (Nucleotide is a small building block and is made up of a base, a 5-carbon sugar, and a phosphate group.) Another con is that RNA replication, and polymerization require precise conditions. The final con is that only SOME RNA acts as catalysts, so it is very limited. So the answer could be that they emerge at the same time and that they work together. Proteins can become or act as catalysts to help the reactions of the RNA. Also the protein needs the RNA to perform the replication. Both the proteins and the RNA need each other to function and have a chemical infinity. XIII. Origin of the Genetic Code a. The order of monomers in polymers (like proteins) is not random, but based on slight chemical affinities. Explain. (scroll down to see the chain)

b. Protein synthesis in early aggregates would have allowed them to make proteins and enzymes that would help the aggregates to survive. Why? If they could make proteins and enzymes and make them themselves instead of getting them from the environment is beneficial. c. DNA evolved from RNA. How is this possible? Do we see evidence of this today? RNA is simpler than DNA so it makes sense that the simpler thing would come first. It is possible because of reverse transcription. The evidence comes from retro-viruses, HIV, being one of them. Reverse transcriptase is the enzyme. *To go to RNA to DNA you go through reverse transcription. d. DNA is more stable and easier to copy than RNA. DNA eventually becomes the main molecule in the genetic code. DNA is also double stranded and that is why it is more stable and easier to make copies of DNA than it is to RNA. e. RNA remains as a go between in protein synthesis between the DNA and the amino acids. XIV. Reproduction and metabolism must have evolved together. a. Reproduction relies on metabolism to provide the energy and raw materials required to replicate the genetic information and to produce many copies of proteins. b. Metabolism relies on genetic information to direct the production of all the enzyme catalysts needed to make these raw materials Once an aggregate evolved reproducible protein synthesis, gene replication, and division into two parts with equivalent sets of genes, it qualified as a living cell

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TIME LINE (not responsible for the years, but you need the order) 3.8 billion years ago - Earliest life WHAT WAS IT LIKE???? 3.0-3.5 BYA 2.5 BYA 1.8 BYA 1.4 BYA - Photosynthesis - Aerobic respiration - Eukaryotic cells - Sexual reproduction

700 million years ago - Animals 500-600 MYA - vertebrates

420 MYA

- land animals

Biogenesis vs. Abiogenesis (spontaneous generation) Abiogenesis can not occur, only biogenesis can occur. All cells come from existing cells, and because of this abiogenesis can not form. The Scientist Redi took a piece of meat and put it in a jar to rot. He put another piece of meat in a jar, with a mesh screen so that air can get in, but nothing else can. Flies came towards the meat and were able to get to the meat in the jar and they could lay eggs. The flies that tried to get to the other jar of meat could not because of the mesh screen. Because of this, no maggots will form in this jar. The scientist Spallanzani took a flask and filled it with soup/ broth. He heats it up and boils it to kill any bacteria there. Then he lets it cool off and seals the flask completely and lets it sit on this table for 1 year. A year later, nothing grew there. Bacteria, mold spores, fungal spores in the air could not get in the flask because he sealed it off. Pasteur did the same experiment using a gooseneck flask. He left the flask open and left it on his desk for 1 year. Although air was still able to get it in, the bacteria would get stuck in the first bend. After a year, nothing was growing so he broke the top of the flask. Within three days, bacteria began to grow Pasteur was known for disproving spontaneous generation

Chemical Aggregates (Coacervates) bunch of chemicals, coming together by the churning of the ocean We could have added lipids into the experiment The lipids trap the particles inside the membrane and water cant get it, and the particles cannot get out. The lipids are the precursors to the cell membrane Gelatin: protein Gum Arabic: carbs Flipping the test tube represented the oceans tides, when the ocean was moving back then Vinegar: change the ph Electrochemical Gradient

Chemical Infinity Cyrteine threonine (ACG) (TGG) UGC ACC ACG TGG

pg. 367 glycine (CCA) = tRNA GGU = mRNA CCA = DNA

***Metabolism is the ability to break things down and build them into other things. Catabolism(ability to break things down) and Anabolism (to build it up and build more complex structures) If the aggregate can have a consistent metabolism and have the ability to reproduce Chemical aggregates cells The membrane has to become more advanced and you need more advanced catalysts and energy

THE FIRST CELL (MUST KNOW) 1) prokaryotic 2) single-celled 3) anaerobic 4) asexual 5) heterotrophs (take in food from environment) WHAT IS THE FIRST THING TO CHANGE? Hetertrophs Autotrophs (photosynthesis)