Genesis - In The Beginning: Precursors of Life, Chemical Models and Early Biological Evolution

by Joseph Seckbach (Editor)

Overview

Genesis – In The Beginning deals with the origin and diversity of Life and early biological evolution and discusses the question of where (hot or cold sources) and when the beginning of Life took place. Among the sections are chapters dealing with prebiotic chemical processes and considering self-replication of polymers in mineral habitats. One chapter is dedicated to the photobiological regime on early Earth and the emergence of Life. This volume covers the role of symmetry, information and order (homochrial biomolecules) in the beginning of Life. The models of proells and the genetic code with gene transfer are important topics in this volume. Three chapters discuss the Panspermia hypothesis (to answer “Are we from outer Space?”). Other chapters cover the Astrobiological aspects of Life in the Universe in extraterrestrial Planets of the Solar System and deal with cometary hydrosphere (and its connection to Earth). We conclude with the history and frontiers of Astrobiogy.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9789400729407
Publisher:	Springer Netherlands
Publication date:	03/20/2012
Series:	Cellular Origin, Life in Extreme Habitats and Astrobiology , #22
Edition description:	2012
Pages:	934
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.08(d)

Table of Contents

PRELIMINARY SECTION: Pathways to “Genesis - In the Beginning: Precursors of Life, Chemical Models and Early Biological Evolution”.- Introduction to Genesis - In The Beginning.-Foreword.-Origins of Life - Keeping Options Open.- PART 1. CHEMICAL EVOLUTION: The Prebiotic Chemistry of Alternative Nucleic Acids.- Cooptive Evolution of Prebiotic Chemical Networks.- Origin and Evolution of Self-Replicating Polymers on Mineral Habitats.- Mathematical Models of Prebiotic Replication: A Primer for Experimentalists.- Life without Carbon; Rob Hengeveld.- [GADV]-Protein World Hypothesis on the Origin of Life.- Reality of the Emergence of Life-Like Systems from Simple Prebiotic Polymers on Primitive Earth.- The Photobiological Regime in the Very Early Earth and the Emergence of Life.- Prebiotic Formation of Peptides: A Markov Chain Approach.- Atomic Structural Templates of the Earliest Life on Earth: Vibration and Lightning Experiments with Quartz and Amino Acids.- Chemical Evolution in Open Space: A Link to the Origin of Life.- The Prebiotic Chemistry of Nitrogen and the Origin of Life.- PART 2. THE ROLE OF PHYSICS AND GEOPHYSICS IN THE ORIGIN AND EVOLUTION OF LIFE: Moving ‘Far from Equilibrium’ in a Prebiotic Environment: The Role of Maxwell’s Demon in Life Origin.- Life from Interface.- Breaking the Paradigm: The Pattern of Life.- Cyberbiogenesis and the EvoGrid: a 21st Century Grand Challenge.- Constructive Approaches for the Origin of Life.- Origin of Life by Thermodynamic Inversion: A Universal Process.- Life Explained by Heat Engines.- Computational Simulations of Prebiotic Processes.- The Cometary Hydrosphere.- In Situ, High Spatial Resolution Techniques in the Search for the Origin of Life.- PART 3. THE ROLE OF SYMMETRY, INFORMATION AND ORDER IN THE ORIGIN OF LIFE: Disorder to Order, Non-Life to Life. In the Beginning There Was a Mistake.- The Role of Information and Order in the Origin of Life.- The Origin of First Peptides on Earth – From AminoAcids to Homochiral Biomolecules.- Chemical Models for the Origin of Biological Homochirality.- Absolute Asymmetric Reactions and the Origin of Biological Chirality.- Energy-Driven Evolution of Prebiotic Chiral Order (Lessons from Dynamic Systems Modelling).- PART 4. PANSPERMIA: Recurrent Dreams of Life in Meteorites.- Are We from Outer Space? A Critical Review of the Panspermia Hypothesis.- Origin of Life and Panspermia.- PART 5. THE FIRST STEPS OF CELLULAR EVOLUTION: The Dimeric Proto-Ribosome Within the Modern Ribosome.- Oceanic Arginine Translator: The Origin of Life and Early Evolution of the Genetic Code.- Tidal Cycling and the Origin of the Genetic Code: Implications for Cellular Life.- Heterotrophic Model Proells.- A Symbiogenic Way in the Origin of Life.- Horizontal Gene Transfer and the Tree of Life.- On the Vesicular Origin of the Cell Cycle.- Hypothesized Micro-Environments for the Origin of Microbial Life on Earth.- PART 6. THE DISTRIBUTION OF LIFE IN THE SOLAR SYSTEM AND ELSEWHERE IN THE COSMOS: What can Life on Earth Tell Us about Life in the Universe?.- Potential for Life in the Saturn System.- Energy Sources for, and Detectability of, Life on Extrasolar Planets.- Environments Habitable by Extremophiles on Earth, the Solar System and Elsewhere.- PART 7. HISTORY AND FRONTIERS OF ASTROBIOLOGY AND THE HUMANITIES: Cultural Implications of the Search and Eventual Discovery of a Second Genesis.- The Concept of Chemical Evolution before Oparin.- A History of Origin of Life Ideas from Darwin to NASA.