The Origin of Life:

1
The Origin of Life Scientists Play at Dice
Carl Sagan
Oslo Student Conference 2008
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What is Life ?
Life is far too important a thing ever to talk
seriously about. Oscar Wilde
Life is a sexually transmitted disease.
R. D. Laing
The supreme irony of life is that hardly anyone
gets out of it alive. Robert
Heinlein The Spirit of God has made me the
breath of the Almighty gives me life.
Job, ch. 33. Jesus answered, "I am the way and
the truth and the life.
St. John, ch. 14, vs. 6 Origin of Life
ideas ALL have philosophical and religious
implications!
Dance of Life Edvard Munch
Bristlecone Pine - White Mountains of California.
Reputed to be 4700 years old.
E. Coli can double in 9.8 min
3
Science Applied to Historical Events

• Many origins events can't be isolated
• and studied in the lab
• Models depend critically on assumptions
• and presuppositions often driven by
• ideology
• Origin of Life science is the softest of
• soft science
• Science has no right to supremacy in
• this area
• Its claims must be evaluated with great
• caution alongside those of philosophy
• and religion.

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Origin of Life Science is the Softest of Soft
Science Science has no valid right to supremacy
in this area so its claims must be evaluated with
great caution alongside philosophical and
religious beliefs.

•  
• Richard Dawkins labels those who reject the
  molecules to man evolutionary scenario as
• ignorant, stupid, insane (or wicked, but Id
  rather not consider that )
• From a book review, New York Times, April 9,
  1987, p. 34.
• Authoritarian statements like this seem
  particularly unwarranted.

Richard Dawkins Professor for the public
understanding of science at Oxford University
5

• John C. Walton
• B.Sc., Ph.D., D.Sc.
• Chartered Chemist
• Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry
• Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh
• Research Professor of Chemistry
• University of St. Andrews

University of St. Andrews School of Chemistry
Royal Society of Chemistry
6

• Characteristics of Living Organisms

• Organization Being composed of one or more
  cells, which are the basic units of life.
• Metabolism Consumption of energy by converting
  nonliving material into cellular components and
  decomposing organic matter
• Adaptation The ability to change over a period
  of time in response to the environment.
• Response to Stimuli e.g. the contraction of a
  unicellular organism when touched, or motion for
  example, the leaves of a plant turning toward the
  sun, or an animal chasing its prey.
• Reproduction The ability to produce new
  organisms. For example, reproduction can be the
  division of one cell to form two new cells.

cell division
X-Ray structure of Virus Viruses are not alive.
They cant reproduce themselves
Soil bacteria are alive. They fit the criteria.
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• Smallest Living Organisms

• Carsonella ruddii was reported to be the smallest
  living cell having only about 160,000 base pairs
  of DNA in its genome. However, Carsonella lives
  inside a leaf-munching insect, called a psyllid.
  They have a symbiotic relationship. There are
  certain genes necessary for life that the
  bacteria's genome lacks, but these are
  compensated for by its insect host.
• Mycoplasma genitalium is a small parasitic
  bacterium which lives in the genital and
  respiratory tracts of primates. M. genitalium
  is the smallest known free-living bacterium and
  has a genome consisting of approximately 580,000
  base pairs

Carsonella ruddii
Psyllid on leaf
M. Genitalium
Genome of M. Genitalium
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• Anatomy of a Cell

Lysosome
Cytoplasm
Nucleolus
Vacuole
Centriole
Nucleus
Mitochondria
Ribosomes
Cell membrane
Rough endoplasmic reticulum
Golgi apparatus
Cytoskeleton
Smooth endoplasmic reticulum
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• Ribosome Structure

Large ribosome subunit
10

• Cell Membrane Structure

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• Four Types of Large Molecules are Key Cell
  Components

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• Proteins and Enzymes are Large Polypeptides

Pentapeptide
Amino acids
Fluorinase from bacterium Streptomyces cattleya
Insulin contains 51 amino acids
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Structure of RNA
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• Importance of the Sequence Order of Amino Acids
• in Enzymes and of Nucleotides in RNA and DNA

• Amino acids are linked in a particular order in a
  protein chain.
• The protein folds into a specific shape which is
  determined by the order of the amino acids.
• It is the exact shape which enables the protein
  to perform a specific task in the cell catalyse
  
• a reaction or transformation, signal, be a
  structural unit, etc.
• In all living cells the order of amino acids in
  a protein corresponds to the order of a series
• of nucleotides in the genetic DNA.
• Proteins and nucleic acids are related to each
  other by the genetic code.
• The DNA carries the information to build all the
  proteins in the cell.

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• Importance of the Sequence Order of Amino Acids
• in Enzymes and of Nucleotides in RNA and DNA

Genetic DNA

• The nucleotide sequences are read off by the
  biological translation machinery and
• transported to the site of protein
  synthesis. At this site the sequence is
  recognised and
• the corresponding sequence of amino acids
  is assembled into the protein chain.
• This requires gt 100 enzymes.
• Cells contain several thousand proteins.
• When a cell divides a copy of the genetic DNA,
  which contains all this information,
• is passed on to the daughter cell, and so
  is preserved from generation to generation.

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• Information and the First Living Organism

• For The first living organism there would be
  no DNA with the right
• information to copy, and no enzyme-based
  cell translation machinery.
• Where did the vast amount of information
  needed to build an organism
• capable of reproduction come from in the
  first place?
• Which came first, the proteins or the nucleic
  acids? This has been much
• debated. Many, including Nobel
  prize-winner Manfred Eigen, have
• concluded that both would have to be
  present together.
• Recently the idea that RNA came first the
  so-called RNA world - has
• become fashionable.
• Assume a "primordial soup" containing amino
  acids and nucleotides.
• How could just the "right" sequence of
  nucleotides (or amino acids) have
• appeared ?

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Random Coupling of Nucleotides to Form RNA and
DNA
nucleotides
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Random Coupling of the Four Types of Nucleotides
to Form DNA or RNA
NB Total number of atoms in known universe
1080
Hubert P. Yockey,. A calculation of the
probability of spontaneous biogenesis by
information theory. Journal of Theoretical
Biology, 1977, 67, 377-398. Hubert P. Yockey,
Self-organization origin of life scenarios and
information theory. Journal of Theoretical
Biology,1981, 91, 13-31.
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Magnitude of the Odds Against Random Formation of
A Biologically Useful DNA (or RNA) sequence

• It necessarily follows that the chance of a
  meaningful DNA sequence being obtained
• spontaneously is almost infinitesimally small.
  

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Random Coupling of Amino Acids to Form Proteins
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Random Coupling of Amino Acids to Form Proteins
Chance of the right protein (100 aa long)
forming is 1 in 10130 Number of atoms in entire
known universe is 1080 Chance of winning
national lottery 1 in 109
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The Origin of Life Design or Evolution?
or
William Blake
Oslo Student Conference 2008
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Potential Solutions to the Random Coupling
Problem

• There might be laws of chemical affinity which
  ensure amino acids and/or nucleotides
• actually do not couple at random but are
  pre-disposed to produce useful products.
• Many lab experiments have shown this is NOT so
  aas and nucleotides can couple in ANY order
  (some constraints). Coupling would be random in
  an origin of life scenario.

• Given enough time anything can happen!
• Time is in fact the hero of the plot.
  The time which we have to deal with is of the
  order of two billion years. What we regard as
  impossible on the basis of human experience is
  meaningless here. Given enough time, the
  impossible becomes possible, the possible
  probable and the probable virtually certain. One
  has only to wait time itself performs the
  miracles
  George Wald

Carl Sagan
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Potential Solutions to the Random Coupling
Problem
Chance of the right protein (100 aa long)
forming is 1 in 10130 Chance of winning national
lottery 1 in 109
The improbability involved in generating even
one bacterium is so large that it reduces all
considerations of time and space to nothingness.
Given such odds, the time until the black holes
evaporate, and the space to the ends of the
universe, would make no difference at all. We
would be waiting for a miracle.




Robert Shapiro.

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Is There Enough Time to Solve the Random Coupling
Problem ?
If you took the entire universe and
converted it to computer chips forget the
monkeys- each one weighing a millionth of a gram
and had each computer chip able to spin out 488
trials at, say, a million times a second
producing random letters, the number of trials
you would get since the beginning of time would
be 1090 trials .. You will never get a
sonnet by chance. The universe would have to be
10600 times larger. Yet the world just thinks
monkeys can do it every time.
Anthony Flew There is a God

The only reasonable conclusion is that there
isnt enough space, there isnt enough matter
(particularly carbon), and there isnt enough
time, for spontaneous formation of a
self-replicating system.
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Potential Solutions to the Random Coupling
Problem

• 3. Perhaps some selection mechanism was at
  work?
• (a) Note that Darwinian evolution in which
  natural selection operates on variants
• generated by random mutations CANNOT occur
  before self-replicating entities
• were available.
• (b) Computational models of selection.
  Dawkins Weasel
• program. Algorithm reaches desired phrase
  in 43
• generations.
• Note However
• The algorithm must know the target phrase
  (protein or RNA sequence) to compare
• its guesses with! But it is this
  sequence that was supposed to be discovered in
  the
• first place. The computer assumes what
  it sets out to discover circular reasoning!
• The algorithm compares random sequences with
  the target then "selects" and

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Do Not Laboratory Preparations of RNA Sequences
Show That Nature Can Solve the Random Coupling
Problem?

• We know that in the laboratory scientists can
  make RNA sequences or AA sequences almost to
  order. Doesnt this show that there is really
  no problem? If it can be done in the lab surely
  Nature can do it too!
• However
• In the lab. the scientist already knows the
  right sequence to make! It has been copied from
  a living organism. This approach again assumes
  what origin of life research sets out to find.
• A huge amount of design has to go into these
  lab. experiments. It is design stemming from
  human intelligence.
• The chance of spontaneous formation of useful
  RNA or proteins is almost
• infinitesimally small.
• Lab. Experiments with intelligent design input
  can make self-replicating
• systems.
• Conclusion This provides strong evidence
  that Intelligent Design emanating
• from a Mind must have been at work in the
  origin of life.

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Miller-Urey Experiment

• By passing electrical sparks through mixtures
  of hydrogen, methane, ammonia, and water vapor,
  scientists produced amino acids, the building
  blocks of organic life. The experiment was first
  performed by Stanley Miller in 1953 and has now
  been repeated many times elsewhere.

• Many subsequent experiments showed
• there must be NO oxygen present
• The gas mixtures gave almost zero
• amino acids unless they were
• reducing.

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Was There Really NO Oxygen in the Earths
Original Atmosphere?

• Oxygen is the MOST ABUNDANT element in the
  earths crust.
• Oxygen is overwhelmingly abundant in the
  hydrosphere combined as
• water.
• The atmosphere closely interacts with the
  lithosphere and hydrosphere
• could it really be devoid of oxygen?

30
Was the Earths Original Atmosphere Devoid of
Oxygen?

• The presence of the large ocean effectively
  guarantees significant oxygen in the atmosphere
  because UV photolysis of H2O in the upper
  atmosphere releases oxygen.
• Direct observations from the moon during the
  Apollo 16 mission revealed that substantial
  amounts of hydrogen were leaving the earths
  atmosphere due to photochemical water
  dissociation.

Earth from the Apollo 16 spacecraft

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Was there no oxygen in the earths original
atmosphere?

• Jupiter's moons Europa and Ganymede have surface
  water in the form of ice and both are known to
  have atmospheres containing oxygen.
• Recently, it was found that the rings of Saturn,
  which are largely composed of ice, also have
  their own oxygen atmosphere.
• It seems far more likely that the earth's
  atmosphere has always contained a substantial
  amount of oxygen.

Callisto, Ganymede and Europa
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Was there no oxygen in the earths original
atmosphere ? Geological evidence

• 1 Reduced forms of iron in Precambrian rocks,
  such as the banded iron formations, show the
  early atmosphere was reducing?
• But! Deeper waters in oceans and lakes
  are often oxygen free. Many geologists consider
  these formations simply reflect that they were
  laid down under deep waters.
• Precambrian sedimentary and igneous rocks are
  lithologically rather similar to younger rocks.
  Same kinds of minerals. Same chemical
  compositions.
• Weathering depends critically on the atmosphere
  and produces clays. These are just as abundant
  in Precambrian as in later rocks. Erosion and
  sedimentation resemble modern processes.
• Kerogen (graphitized carbonaceous matter) is
  present in Precambrian rocks. The amount
  decreases with rock age contrary to expectation
  
• if there were a prebiotic soup

Australian Banded Iron formation

Clay
Kerogen
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Fossil Evidence of Precambrian life

• Conclusions
• Life present on earth
• from the earliest
• Precambrian.
• Not much time available
• for abiotic origin of life.

Modern stromatolites at Shark Bay Australia
Satellite image of Isua Supergroup Greenland
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Raw Materials for RNA-World?

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Production of Nucleotides by Random Coupling

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Conclusions

• Statistically, the chance of forming even one
  useful RNA sequence can be shown
• to be essentially zero in the lifetime of the
  earth.
• The complexity of the first self-replicating
  system, and the information needed to
• build it, imply intelligent design.
• Hope of beating the colossal odds against
  random formation of replicating RNA is
• based on ideology rather than science.
• As lab experiments on model replicators become
  more complex they demonstrate
• the need for input from intelligent mind(s).
• Acceptance of an early earth atmosphere free of
  oxygen strains belief beyond
• breaking point!
• No chemically or geologically plausible routes
  to nucleotides or RNA strands have
• been developed.

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•  Why are there not more professional scientists
  who are openly sceptical of evolutionary
  scenarios?
• Most biologists work in institutions dedicated to
  evolution and its sister disciplines. Many
  institutes are named Evolutionary Biology or
  some variant of this.
• The research funding, the livelihoods, the
  careers, the professional reputations of all
  these scientists depend on adherence to
  evolutionary orthodoxy.
• Authoritarian control of personnel and
  publications.
• E.g. Richard Sternberg case (USA), Michael Reiss
  case (UK).
• 3. Strongly held ideological convictions
  philosophical naturalism, atheist materialism.