The Molecular Origins of Life
Assembling Pieces of the Puzzle

This 199 book reviews discoveries in astronomy, paleontology, biology and chemistry to help us to understand the likely origin of life on Earth.

Andri Brack (Edited by)

9780521564755, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 28 December 1998

428 pages, 105 b/w illus. 23 tables
23.4 x 15.2 x 2.1 cm, 0.606 kg

'Every chapter in this book is relevant and interesting … a 'must' for the departmental library.' Dorian Pritchard, British Society for Developmental Biology

The origin of life was an event probably unique in the Earth's history, and reconstructing this event is like assembling a puzzle made up of many pieces. These pieces are composed of information acquired from many different disciplines. The aim of this 1999 book is to integrate discoveries in astronomy, planetology, palaeontology, biology and chemistry, and use this knowledge to present plausible scenarios that give us a better understanding of the likely origin of life on Earth. Twenty-three top experts contribute chapters that discuss everything from the environment and atmosphere of the early Earth, through the appearance of organic molecules in the prebiotic environment, to primitive chiral chemical systems capable of self-replication and evolution by mutation. The book also discusses various clues to the origin of life that can be obtained by a study of the past and present microbial world, as well as from Saturn's moon Titan and the planet Mars. Chemists, biologists, earth scientists, and astronomers will find this book a thought-provoking summary of our knowledge of this extraordinary event.

List of contributors
Introduction André Brack
Part I. Setting the Stage: 1. The origin of the atmosphere Tobias C. Owen
2. The early atmosphere as a source of biogenic compounds James F. Kasting, and Lisa L. Brown
Part II. Organic Molecules on the Primitive Earth: 3. The endogenous synthesis of organic compounds Stanley L. Miller
4. Hydrothermal systems Nils G. Holm, and Eva M. Andersson
5. Cosmic origin of the biosphere Armand H. Delsemme
6. Meteorites John R. Cronin
7. Micrometeorites on the early Earth Michel Maurette
Part III. Possible Starts for Primitive Life: 8. Membrane compartments in prebiotic evolution David W. Deamer
9. A step-by-step analysis of the early chemistry of life in an iron-sulfur world Günter Wächtershauser
10. The thioester world Christian de Duve
11. Origins of the RNA world Alan W. Schwartz
12. Catalysis of RNA synthesis: a possible route from prebiotic chemistry to the RNA world James P. Ferris
13. Catalysis in the RNA world Kenneth D. James, and Andrew W. Ellington
14. Self-replication and autocatalysis Jens Burmeister, and Günter von Kiedrowski
Part IV. Clues from the Bacterial World: 15. Hyperthermophiles and their possible role as ancestors of modern life Karl O. Stetter
16. Tracing the roots of the universal tree of life J. William Schopf
Part V. Clues from Other Planets: 17. Titan François Raulin
18. Life on Mars Christopher P. McKay
Part VI. Conclusion André Brack.

Subject Areas: Molecular biology [PSD]