The National Academies Press

Currently Skimming:

The Origin of Life
Pages 122-125

The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.

From page 122... ... ; to maximize the food harvest from the oceans and larger bodies of fresh water (the manatee, consumer of water hyacinth, one of the most productive of crops, looks particularly promising) ; to enable us to predict adequately the consequences of increase in the consumption of fossil fuels as opposed to increase in the utilization of nuclear power; and to enable us to protect naturally or deliberately impounded bodies of fresh water-examples without end. Read the entire page →
From page 123... ... These include the Nonesuch shale of northern Michigan, the Gunflint chert of Ontario, the Soudan shale of northern Minnesota, Bulawayan limestone of Southern Rhodesia, and the Fig-Tree chert of the Transvaal. All contain isoprenoid hydrocarbons, particularly pristane and phytane, both of which are breakdown products of chlorophyll, and perhaps of other biological molecules. Read the entire page →
From page 124... ... Moreover, cyanide and its polymers have been found to catalyze synthesis of random polypeptides from relatively concentrated solutions of amino acids, and of random polynucleotides from mononucleotides. In sum, therefore, conditions that may or may not mimic those of the prebiotic era on this earth, but that are as close as current theory can suggest, result in the formation of a large number of the primary building blocks of biological macromolecules as well as primitive macromolecules, thereby setting the stage for the origin of life. Read the entire page →
From page 125... ... From the notion described above, once primitive life began, and the crudest membrane surrounded such macromolecular packages, the materials available for further transformation, like those that contributed to the primitive genetic apparatus, must have been those that were present in the original "primordial soup." It is in that context that one finds explanation of the fact that the nucleotides not only serve as the building blocks of all forms of nucleic acids, but also participate in intermediary metabolism as the coenzymes for hundreds of metabolic processes presumably because "they were there." ATP became the energy source for cellular reactions because it was there. In time, as the original supply of organic materials began to dwindle, selective advantage would come to those primitive cells that "learned" to synthesize what they required from other organic materials still present in the medium. Read the entire page →

From page 122...

... ; to maximize the food harvest from the oceans and larger bodies of fresh water (the manatee, consumer of water hyacinth, one of the most productive of crops, looks particularly promising) ; to enable us to predict adequately the consequences of increase in the consumption of fossil fuels as opposed to increase in the utilization of nuclear power; and to enable us to protect naturally or deliberately impounded bodies of fresh water-examples without end.

Read the entire page →

From page 123...

... These include the Nonesuch shale of northern Michigan, the Gunflint chert of Ontario, the Soudan shale of northern Minnesota, Bulawayan limestone of Southern Rhodesia, and the Fig-Tree chert of the Transvaal. All contain isoprenoid hydrocarbons, particularly pristane and phytane, both of which are breakdown products of chlorophyll, and perhaps of other biological molecules.

Read the entire page →

From page 124...

... Moreover, cyanide and its polymers have been found to catalyze synthesis of random polypeptides from relatively concentrated solutions of amino acids, and of random polynucleotides from mononucleotides. In sum, therefore, conditions that may or may not mimic those of the prebiotic era on this earth, but that are as close as current theory can suggest, result in the formation of a large number of the primary building blocks of biological macromolecules as well as primitive macromolecules, thereby setting the stage for the origin of life.

Read the entire page →

From page 125...

... From the notion described above, once primitive life began, and the crudest membrane surrounded such macromolecular packages, the materials available for further transformation, like those that contributed to the primitive genetic apparatus, must have been those that were present in the original "primordial soup." It is in that context that one finds explanation of the fact that the nucleotides not only serve as the building blocks of all forms of nucleic acids, but also participate in intermediary metabolism as the coenzymes for hundreds of metabolic processes presumably because "they were there." ATP became the energy source for cellular reactions because it was there. In time, as the original supply of organic materials began to dwindle, selective advantage would come to those primitive cells that "learned" to synthesize what they required from other organic materials still present in the medium.

Read the entire page →

← Previous Chapter Skim

Next Chapter Skim →

This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
More information on Chapter Skim is available.

The Origin of Life Pages 122-125

The Origin of Life
Pages 122-125