The origin of life

Four theories
concidered

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Introduction

As far as I know, there seems to be four possible explanations to the

incontestable fact that life exist on earth.

The first of them is based on the formation of amino-acids in prehistoric

time, due to extreme conditions and chemical reactions in gaseous media
on earths surface. (Miller-Urey experiment)

The second is based on meteorite downfall, bringing microscopic

amounts of amino-acids to earths surface. (Murchison meteorite)

None of these explanations gives convincing answers to the origon of life.

In both cases amino-acids are formed on earth, or has followed some
types of meteorites. Amino-acids are essential for the production of
proteins in already existing, living cells. But anyhow, they can’t create any
life !

The third explanation is based on a theory that highly resistant bacteria,

spores or virus from the great universum has come into our atmosphere
and infected it. Such particles would represent a kind of life, but their
prehistoric existence can naturally not be proved. Surprisingly, bacteria
has been found in earths crust, at several kilometers deep. Their “life
existance” could have been for 3.9 billion years ago, and they followed a
heavy bombardment of meteors on the inner planets in our system. (1)

The fourth and last explanation is based on what is called panspermia.

Small “seeds” of panspermia should exist all over in the universe, and
have the ability to infect our atmosphere and bring in living particles of
some kind. This theory was early accepted by well known physics like
Berzelius, Kelvin, Helmholz and Arrehnius. Later on the british astro-
physics Fred Hoyle (1915 – 2001) eagerly defended the pamspermia
theory.

The Miller-Urey-experiment.

By the 1950’s, the scientists were in

hot pursuit of the origin of life.
Around the world, the scientifis
community was examining what kind
of environment would be needed to

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allow life to begin. In 1953 Stanley L. Miller and Harold C. Urey, working
at the University of Chicago, conducted an experiment which would
change the aproach of scientific investigation into the origin of life.
Miller took molecules which were believed to represent the major
components of early Earth’s atmosphere and put them into a closed
system. The gases they used were methane (CH4), ammonia (NH3),
hydrogen (H2) and water (H2O). Next, he ran a continious electric current
through the system to simulate lightning storms believed to be common
on the early earth. Analysis of the experiment was done by chromoto-
graphy. At the end of one week, Miller observed that much as 10-15 % of
the carbon was now in the form of organic compounds. Two percent of the
carbon had formed some of the amino acids which are used to make
proteins. Perhaps, most importantly, Miller’s experiment showed that
organic compounds such as amino acids could be made easily under the
conditions that scientists believed to be present on the early earth.
This enormous finding inspired a multitude of experiments. Scientists
became very optimistic that the question about the origin of life would be
solved within a few decades. This has not been the case, however.
A later wave of scepticism concerning Miller’s experiment showed up. (2)

The Murchinson meteorite

On 28 September 1969, near the

town of Murchinson, Victoria in
Australia, a bright fireball was
observed to separate into three
fragments before disappearing,
leaving a cloud of smoke. About 30
seconds later, a tremor was heard.
Many speciments were found over an
area larger than 13 km2, with
individual masses up to 7 kg, one
weighing 680 g, broke through a roof
and fell in hay. This stone, beeing of
the petrologic type 2. is rich in
carbon, and among the more
chemically interresting meteorites.
Over 100 amino acids has been
identified in the meteorite, some of
them basic components of life. (3)

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Amino acids

These are organic acids with the formula NH2- CHR – COOH, where the
side group R variates. Amino acids are the building blocks in proteins,
beeing “hooked” together in long chains, beeing called peptides. We know
there is several hundreds different amino acids, all given a name and a
formula, but in a smart way. Group R in the formula indikate that this is
Arginin, one of th most essential
amino acids.

An interresting thing with some

amino acids is the fact that they
can exist in two versions, a left-
and a right-handed one. Amino
acids produced nonbiologically
would have no obvious reason to
accumulate excess of either forms.
Scientists have demonstrated that
there are more left-handed structures than
right-handed versions of certain amino acids in the Merchison meteorite,
just like amino acids from Earth’s living cells.

Resistant bacteria, spores and virus

Astrobiologists are partiiculary interested in studying extremophiles of

many organisms of this type are capable of surviving in enviroments
similar to those known to exist on other planets. Some organisms have
been shown to be resistant to conditions than previously recognized, and
may be able to survive for very long periods of time. Probably even in
deep space, hypothetically, could travel in a domant state between
environments suitable for ongoing life.
Some bacteria and animals have been found to thrive in oceanic hydro-
thermal vents above 100 ºC. A study revealed that a fraction of bacteria
survived pulses up to 250ºC in vacuum, while similar heating at normal
atmospheric pressure leads to the total sterilization of samples. Other
bacteria can threive in strongly caustic environments , other at extreme
pressure at 11 km under the ocean, while others survive in extremely dry,
dessicating conditions, frigid cold, vacuum or acid environments.Survival
in space is not limited to bacteria, lichens or archea. The animal
tardigrade, a microscopic, water-dwelling, segmented with eight legs, has
proven to survive the vacuum in space.

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Recent experiments suggest that if bacteria were somehow sheltered from
radiation of space, perhaps innside a thich meteoride or any icy comet,
they could survive dormant for millions of years. A radioresistant bacteria
(Deinoccus radiodurans) can survive high radiation levels.

Spores are produced as part of normal life cycle of many plants, algea,
fungi and some protazoans. These structures may be highly resistant to
ultraviolet and gamma radiation, desiccation- temperature, starvation and
chemical disinfectants. (4)

Panspermia

Panspermia is the hypothesis that “seeds” of life exist already all over the
Universe, that life on Earth may have originated through these “seeds”,
and that they may deliver or have delivered life to other habitable bodies.

The idea of exogenis is a more limited hypotesis that

proposes life on Earth was transferred from elsewhere
in the Universe but makes no prediction aboput how
widtespread it is. Sir Fred Hoyle (picture) and Chandra
Wickramashinge (born 1939) were important pro-
ponents for the hypotehesis who further contended
that lifeforms continue to enter the Earth’s atmos-
phere, and may be responsible for epidemics
outbreaks, new diseases and the genetic novelty
necessary for maceorevolution.

Precambrium fossil record indicates that life appeared soon after the Earth
was formed. This would imply that life appeared within several hundred
million years when conditions became favourable. The oldest known
fosslized stromatolites or bacterial aggregates are dated at 3.5 billion
years old. (5)

Epilogue

The astrobiologists operate with what they call fozzile stromatolis or bacterial
aggregates, dated to be 3.5 billion years old. Experiments suggest that if
bacteria were somehow sheltered from radiation of space, perhaps inside a thick
meteorite or an icy comet, they could survive dormant for millions of years.
Spores is another possibility for particles, surviving extreme condition such as
interstellar cold and radiation.

But could these small “seeds” really be alive and ready for reproduction and
multiplication when they landed on Earths cruster ? No one has ever published

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a single report about such an overwhelming successful fertilizing incident in the
laboratory. We thereby still lack an obvious explanation for lifes origin.
What could be the nature of such a deep secret, continiously beeing hidden for
us ?

I fell for the temptation to mention what is called the Higgs particle, a hypotetical
massive elementary particle that has not yet been observed. A detection could
greatly help explaining the origin of mass in the universe. If the Higgs boson
exists, it is an integral and pervasive component of the material world.
The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at Cern, which will continue its operation in the
midts of februar 2010, will continue to provide experiments to get evidence for
the existence of Higgs particle. If they don’t succeed in Cern, the Standard
Model (from1970) for the theory of fundamental particles, and how they interact,
must be completely re-estimated

Other questions, like the nature and origin of dark matter and dark energ, still
lack convincing explanations. The Quantum Physics is far from easy to
understand and accept. Nature seems, and for me with unknown reason,
making such questions almost impossible to comprehend. Perhaps the answers
are well saved in another dimension, if such places really exist.

Allow me now at last to quote what the famous american scientist and Nobel
Price Winner Richard Feldman (1918 -1988 ) once wrote :

God was invented to explain mystery. God is always invented to explain those
things that you do not understand. Now, when you finally discover how
something works, you get some laws which you're taking away from God; you
don't need him anymore. But you need him for the other mysteries. So therefore
you leave him to create the universe because we haven't figured that out yet;
you need him for understanding those things which you don't believe the laws
will explain, such as consciousness, or why you only live to a certain length of
time — life and death — stuff like that. God is always associated with those
things that you do not understand. Therefore I don't think that the laws can be
considered to be like God because they have been figured out.

Skien, 14.january 2010

Kjell W. Tveten

Rererences

(1) Sky&Telescope, jan 2010

(2) http://www.chem.duke.edu/~jds/cruise_chem/Exobiology/miller.html
(3) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murchison_meteorite
(4) http://en.wikipedia.org./wiki/Penspermia
(5) http://en.wikipedia.org./wiki/Penspermia

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