Chapter Outline - Chapter 18

18.1 Origin of Life

1.

The four stages of the origin of life are:

1) Organic monomers
2) Organic polymers
3) Protocells
4) Living cells

A. Stage 1. Evolution of Monomers

1. Hypothesis one: monomers came from reactions in the atmosphere.
a. Oparin/Haldane - primordial soup hypothesis.
b. Miller and Urey (1953) experiment - Gases (methane, ammonia,
hydrogen, water) reacted to produce small organic molecules.
2. Hypothesis two: monomers came from reactions in ocean thermal
vents.
a. Iron-sulfur world hypothesis - oceans thermal vents have iron
and nickel sulfide minerals - vents emit gasses such as carbon
monoxide, ammonia, and hydrogen sulfide. Catalysts in chemical
evolution from inorganic to organic molecules.
3. Hypothesis three: monomers came from outer space.
a. Comets and meteorites carrying organic chemicals have pelted
the Earth
b. A meteorite from Mars landed on Earth may have fossilized
bacteria.
B. Stage 2. Evolution of Polymers
1. Hypothesis one: iron-sulfur world hypothesis. Iron-nickel
sulfides under ventlike conditions - charged surface - provides
electrons so they bond together.
2. Hypothesis two: protein-first hypothesis
a. Amino acids collected in shallow puddles; heat of the sun caused
them to form proteinoids.
b. When proteinoids are returned to water, they form cell-like
microspheres composed of protein.
3. Hypothesis three: RNA-first hypothesis
a. Only RNA was needed to lead to the first cell.
b. RNA can be both a substrate and an enzyme.

C. Stage 3. Evolution of Protocells

1. Before the first true cell arose, there would have been a protocell
or protobiont.
2. Phospholipids Micelles (fatty acids when placed in water assemble
with heads pointing out, tails pointing in)
3. Micelles merge to form vesicles
4. Lipids would naturally organize themselves into double-layered
bubbles, known as liposomes.
D. Stage 4. Evolution of a Self-Replication System
1. Information flows from DNA RNA protein
2. RNA that acts as enzymes.
3. Uniform genetic code
18.2 History of Life
A. Fossils Tell a Story
1. Fossil - remains or traces of past life, usually preserved in
sedimentary rock.
2. Paleontology is the study of fossils
3. Sedimentation - accumulation of particles forming a stratum, a
recognizable layer
4. Geologists discovered that strata of the same age contain the same
fossils, termed index fossils. These can be used for the relative
dating of strata.
5. Absolute Dating of Fossils - relies on radioactive dating, or
radiometric, to determine the actual age. Radioactive isotopes
used - Carbon 14 (14C)
B. The Precambrian Time
1. Geological timescale - divides the history of Earth into eras, periods
and epochs.
2. Life arose in the Precambrian Era.
a. Boulders called stromatolites - resemble living stromatolites with
cyanobacteria in the outer surface.
e. Oxygen-releasing photosynthesis by cyanobacteria
g. Accumulation of O2 caused the rise of aerobic organisms.
h. ozone shield - blocks ultraviolet radiation from reaching the
Earths surface
3. Eukaryotic Cells Arise
a. Endosymbiotic theory - a nucleated cell engulfed prokaryotes,
which then became organelles. Evidence includes:

i.
Present-day mitochondria and chloroplasts have a size of
bacteria.
ii. Mitochondria and chloroplasts have their own DNA
iii. Mitochondria and chloroplasts divide by binary fission similar
to bacteria.
4 Multicellularity Arises
a. Separating germ cells from somatic cells may have contributed to
the diversity of organisms.
c. Fossils of the Ediacara Hills of South Australia, were soft-bodied early
invertebrates.
1) lived on mudflats in shallow marine waters.
2) lacked internal organs - could have absorbed nutrients from the
sea.
C. The Paleozoic Era
1. Very active period with three major mass extinctions.
a. Mass extinction - disappearance of large numbers of species in a
few million years.
2. Cambrian Animals
a. Invertebrates flourish; invertebrates lack a vertebral column.
b. A molecular clock, based on a fixed rate of changes in base pair
sequences
3. Invasion of Land
D. The Mesozoic Era
1. Triassic - Gymnosperms (cycads)
2. The Jurassic Period - dinosaurs flourished in the sea, on land, and in air.
3. The Cretaceous Period - era of dinosaurs ended in a mass extinction
E. The Cenozoic Era
1. Mammals with hair and mammary glands diversified and human
evolution began.
2. Mammalian Diversification
3. Evolution of Primates
a. Flowering plants were diverse, monkeys and apes - humans.
18.3 Geological Factors That Influence Evolution
A. Continental Drift - continents moved with respect to one another.
1. One supercontinent called Pangaea - later divided into Gondwana and
Laurasia
2. Continental drift explains why coastlines of several continents are
mirror images

3. Mountain ranges - found in many areas where continents once

touched.
B. Plate Tectonics
1. Plate tectonics - behavior of the Earths crust formed at ocean ridges
and destroyed at subduction zones.
2. Subduction zones - regions where oceanic crust collides with the
continental crust.
3. Two continents colliding form a mountain range (e.g., the Himalayas
are the result of the collision of India and Eurasia).
4. Transform boundaries are regions where two crustal plates meet and
scrape past one another resulting in relatively frequent earthquakes.
C. Mass Extinctions
1. Five mass extinctions occurred.
2. Attributed to tectonic, oceanic, and climatic changes.
3. Bolide
Review
1. Explain the Urey-Miller experiment.
Tested the Oparin and Haldane hypothesis of chemical evolution
Under the earths conditions, organic molecules could be formed if there were a
source of energy such as electricity from storms or ultraviolet radiation from the
sun
A closed-system was constructed in which water, hydrogen gas, methane, carbon
dioxide, ammonia and nitrogen was added. The water was heated to form vapor
and electrical sparks were generated to mimic lightning, simulating the
atmospheric conditions of early earth
After one week, formic acid, urea and amino acids were formed. Eventually 22
amino acids were formed
2. What is primordial soup hypothesis?
Oparin-Haldane Hypothesis (aka)
Proposes that early earth had very little oxygen, but instead was made up of water
vapor, hydrogen gas, methane and ammonia.
3. Mention the four stages in the origin of life.
Stage 1: Monomers (individual / no plasma membrane)
Stage 2: Polymers (attached / has plasma membrane)
Stage 3: Protocells (self-replicating)
Stage 4: Living Cells
4. What is a subduction zone?
The forward edge of a moving plate sinks into the mantle and is destroyed, forming
deep-ocean trenches bordered by volcanoes o volcanic island chains

5. Explain the endosymbiotic theory.

States that nucleated cell engulfed prokaryotes, which became organelles
6. Differentiate between absolute and relative dating.
Relative dating: each stratum of the same age contains certain index fossils that
serve to identify deposits made at the same time in different parts of the world
Absolute dating: methods that rely on radiometric techniques to assign an actual
date to a fossil. All radioactive isotopes have a particular half-life, the length of
time it takes for half of the radioactive isotope to change into another stable
element
7. Explain the following terms:
Proteinoid: small polypeptide that have some catalytic properties
Microsphere: formed when proteinoids are placed in water
Micelle: a single layer of fatty acids organized with their head pointing out and
tails pointing toward the center of the sphere
Bolide: large, crater-forming projectile that impacts earth
8. What does RNA first hypothesis?
From stage two in the origin of life, suggests that only the macromolecule RNA
was needed to progress toward formation of the first cell or cells.
9. What are stromatolites?
Domed structure found in shallow seas consisting of cyanobacteria bound to
calcium carbonate
10.What are plate tectonics?
The earths crust is fragmented into slab-like plates that float on a lower, hot
mantle layer
Practice Pre-Test
1. The primitive atmosphere had little, if any free oxygen.
Feedback: Yes; there was very little free oxygen and no organisms to produce it.
2. When O2 attaches to organic molecules, it prevents them from joining to form larger
molecules.
3. Evidence that organic molecules could be synthesized from the inorganic molecules
methane, carbon dioxide, ammonia, hydrogen gas, heat, and energy was provided by
Miller.
Feedback: Yes, Miller simulated the early atmosphere to prove his theory.
4. The earliest formed organic molecules would have accumulated in the oceans.
Feedback: No; reduction would not have occurred with free oxygen and early organic
molecules.
5. If primordial earth lacked free O2, as is speculated, then the first living organisms must

have anaerobic metabolism.

Feedback: No; this would not be the origin of these organisms.
Practice Post-Test
6. Miller's mixture resembling a strong reducing atmosphere, heat and an electric spark
produced a variety of amino acids.
Feedback: Yes; a number of amino acids were the result of this combination of chemicals
in a high energy environment.
7. Mass extinctions were caused by genetic drift
Feedback: No; mass extinctions were caused by bolides, continental drift and global
warming.
8. The RNA-first hypothesis is supported by RNA viruses that have reverse transcription
Feedback: No; comparing these two structures would not be a supportive part of the
hypothesis.
9. The polymerization of polypeptides may have been facilitated by clay, which attracts
small organic molecules and contains iron and zinc.
Feedback: No; a combination of heat and amino acids in shallow pools.
10.Proteinoids added to water formed microspheres.
Feedback: No; this is similar to the liposome theory.
11. Cretaceous clay contains an abnormally high amount of iridium, an element that is rare in
the earth's crust but more common in asteroids and meteorites.
Feedback: Yes; iridium is a common element in meteorites and asteroids.
12.Flowering plants first appeared in the Jurassic
13.Placental mammals first appeared during the Cretaceous period.
14.The mass extinction at the end of the Triassic period may have benefitted the dinosaurs
because that is when the first of the giant dinosaurs took charge of the land.
Feedback: The Triassic period was a time of mass extinction, which ushered in the
Jurassic, the age of large dinosaurs.
15.The place where two plates meet and slide past each other is called a transform boundary
Feedback: No; an ocean trench is defined as long, narrow, hemisphere-scale
depressions in the ocean floor.
16.The time period during which life arose and the first cells came into existence is the
Precambrian

Feedback: No; diverse life forms were abundant during the Paleocene period.
17.The great Carboniferous forests turned into the coal we use today to fuel our modern
society.
Feedback: No; there were no forests during this early period (Precambrian) in Earth's
development.
18.The concept that the Earth's crust is divided into a number of fairly rigid plates whose
movements account for continental drift is Plate tectonics
19.When two continents collide a mountain range often forms.
Feedback: Yes; for example, the Himalayas developed when India collided with Eurasia.
20.Jawless fishes first appeared during the Ordovician period.
Feedback: No; the presence of Ice Age mammals and modern day humans first appeared
in the Pleistocene period.
Online Quiz
1. Which of the following molecules are believed to have been absent from the primitive
reducing atmosphere? Oxygen
2. All of the following statements concerning the theory of continental drift are true except:
the unique distribution patterns of several fossils is explained by continental drift
similar geological structures are found in areas wher the continents touched
continental drift ceased
the coastlines of several continents are mirror images
3. Mass extinctions
a. Have occurred at least 5 times in the earths history
b. May have been due to changes in meteorite collisions
c. May have been due to changing environments caused by continental drift
d. All of the above are correct
4. Organisms today are living in the Pleistocene epoch of the Cenozoic era.
a. True
b. False
5. The greek term for small and ball are the root words for
a. Microsphere
6. The carboniferous period is extremely significant to our current society because
a. The forests turned into the coal that fuels modern society
7. Which piece of evidence would best support the theory of continental drift?
a. The east coast of Africa matches up with the western coast of South America
Reptilian diversity
8. The dilemma of whether proteins or nucleic acids were formed first is avoided by the
a. RNA-first hypothesis
Protein-first hypothesis

9. Huge craters have been discovered through satellite imagery that support the theory of
mass extinctions being caused by bolides that initiated climatic changes
a. True
10. Fossils from the Paleozoic are plentiful because
a. Mammals greatly diversified during this time
Hard body parts evolved in plants and animals
11. The time that it takes for half of a radioactive isotope to change into another stable
element is its half-life
12. Some viruses never use DNA to carry out protein synthesis and have only RNA
a. RNA first hypothesis
13. The formation of simple monomers, such as sugars, amino acids
a. Abiotic synthesis
14. Hypothesis of the continental drift during 1920s
a. Alfred Wegener
15. Fossils used to define and identify geologic periods are
a. Index fossils
16. Place where two plates meet and scrape past one another
a. Transform boundary