3Chapter 4 Life Movement Sensitivity Death Complexity

Properties of Life Cellular organization Sensitivity Growth Development Reproduction Regulation Homeostasis Heredity Genetic system-DNA-adaptation and evolution over time Distinguishing characteristic of living organisms Hypothesis of Origin of Life Special creation-God Extraterrestrial origin o panspermia-meteors or other cosmic dust carried significant amounts of complex organic molecules to earth, starting evolution Spontaneous Origin Scientific Viewpoint-natural forces led to origin of life and how it occurred Scientists Disagree about Where Life Started Reducing atmosphere-atmosphere with primarily carbon dioxide (CO2) and nitrogen gas (N2) with significant amounts of water vapor (H2O) o Very little oxygen-spontaneous formation could not occur Where on Earth did life originate o Oceans edge-bubble hypothesis o Frozen oceans o Earths crust o Clay o Deep-sea vents Miller-Urey Experiment Reproduced conditions of primitive atmosphere Carbon had converted into other simple carbon compounds, which formed simple molecules, and more complex molecules after that In similar experiments, amino acids were found, which formed proteins, a major component of organisms

Path of Chemical Evolution RNA-first-believed that RNA were the first organic molecules o They feel that without a hereditary molecule, other molecules could not have formed consistently o RNA catalyzes chemical reaction that links amino acids-RNA also functions as enzyme If this is so, then were proteins really needed Protein-first-believed proteins were first organic molecules o Without enzymes (which are proteins), nothing could replicate at all o Nucleotides are too complex to have formed spontaneously o An experiment replicated mutations, which are necessary for evolution Peptide-Nucleic Acid World-believed both RNA and protein played roles in the formation of organic molecules o RNA is complex and unstable, they assume that there was a pre-RNA where proteinnucleic acid (PNA) was basis for life Bubble Hypothesis Oceans edge-bubbles played a key role in evolution Bubble-hollow, spherical, shields hydrophobic regions of molucules from contact with water Primary abiogenesis-life must have arisen from nonliving matter under a set of very different environmental circumstances in the distant history of the earth o Protobionts-early, chemical-concentrating, bubblelike structures Coacervates-a type of protobiont, spherical aggregations of lipid molecules in water, held together by hydrophobic forces A Bubble Scenario Microdrops form spontaneously then dispersed Some had amino acids Complex bubbles that had molecules and energy would grow and divide, similar to reproducing When a way to facilitate transfer of new ability from parent to offspring, heredity and life began Earliest Cells Microfossils-fossilized forms of microscopic life o Often resemble present-day bactereia Prokaryotes Prokaryote-organisms with lack of nucleus o Archaebacteria-most ancient and primitive prokaryote Lacks peptidoglycan in cell walls-key compound in cell walls of most modern prokaryotes Methanogens-methane-producing archaebacteria Extreme halophiles-archaebacteria living in salty environments Extreme thermophiles-heat lovers, very different from other organisms o Bacteria-prokaryotes with strong cell walls and simpler gene architecture Most prokaryotes living today are bacteria Cyanobacteria-photosynthetic and produce oxygen

Eukaryotes Eukaryote-cell with a nucleus 1.5 billion years Origin of Nucleus and ER o The plasma membrane of a prokaryotic cell may have evolved to surround DNA, creating a nucleus and ER Origin of Mitochondria and Chloroplasts o Endosymbiosis-living together in close association o Simple, energy-producing bacteria may have lived in other, larger bacteria, eventually evolving into the mitochondria of a cell o Photosynthetic bacteria may have evolved in other larger bacteria as chloroplasts Sexual reproduction-producing of offspring by fertilization o Diversity for evolution Multicellularity-single, eukaryotic cells living in association with others, eventually assuming different duties and resembling a single individual