Chemical Evolution - The Structure and Model of the First Cell: Proceedings of the Third Trieste Conference on Chemical Evolution, the Alexander Ivanovich Oparin 100th Anniversary Conference, 29 August-September 1994
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Chemical Evolution: Structure and Model of the First Cell is a timely, up to date review and evaluation of the recent rapid evolution of theoretical and empirical knowledge in the vast, interdisciplinary study of the origins of life. With 35 contributions authored by 95 of the foremost scientists, it discusses many aspects of the origin of the first cell: exobiology in the solar system and beyond; the early paleontological record; physical, chemical, biological and informational aspects of the origin and structure of the membrane and the cell itself. The publication of the book commemorates the centenary of Alexander Oparin. Audience: Graduate students and researchers in the areas of basic, earth and life sciences who contribute to the study of chemical evolution and the origin of life. Booknews Attempts to throw light on the first appearance of a biological structure by tracing life forms backward as far as possible and recreating purely chemical processes that might have led to it. After overviewing the field and the question, the 40 papers cover membrane formation in planetary, extraterrestrial, and interstellar conditions; the early paleontological record; and physical, chemical, biological, and information aspects to the beginning of both membrane and cells. Reproduced from typescripts. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
PrefaceForewordGroup photographThe origin of the cell from Oparin to the present day3Alfonso L. Herrera: A Mexican pioneer in the study of chemical evolution11Experimental retracement of the origins of a protocell: It was also a protoneuronExobiology on Titan: A reference laboratory for studying prebiotic chemistry on a planetary scale39Search for Bioorganic Compounds and Organisms on MarsInterstellar dust, chirality, comets and the origins of life: Life from dead stars?61Some aspects of laboratory cometary models71SETH: The search for extra-terrestrial homochirality77Age of the oldest rocks with biogenic components: An estimate for the age of the origin of life85Significance of biogeochemical markers in Precambrian sediments95Coherent dynamics in water as a possible explanation of biological membranes formation105Physics underlying the formation of protocells117A possible route for the formation of protoprotein and its microspheres from primitive gases under possible prebiotic conditions123Domain protolife: Protocells and metaprotocells within thermal protein matrices129Chemical synthesis of lipids and the origin of life135Adsorption interaction on the interface of phase-separated systems. Modeling studies149Lipid vesicles: Are they plausible primordial aggregates?155Cell wall biochemistry in Archaea and its phylogenetic implications165Contribution from coenzyme related molecules to evolution of photoreceptors171On the origin of biological information181Linguistics of biomolecules and the protein-first hypothesis for the origins of cells193Evolution of the cellular communication system: An analysis in the computational paradigm201Thermodynamics and biological evolution: A motive force of evolution213On stable spherical configurations of artificial protocells223Molecular chirality and the origin of life229False chirality, CP violation and the breakdown of microscopic reversibility in chiral molecular and elementary particle processes235Possibilities to measure the parity-violating energy difference241Low temperature specific heat anomaly of D-valine247Inorganic polyphosphate functions at various stages of cell evolution255Hardware and software in biology: Simultaneous origin of proteins and nucleic acids via hydrogen cyanide polymers275Phosphoryl amino acids: Common origin for nucleic acids and protein283A search for symmetries in the genetic code289Evolutionary roots of genetic code295A new hypothesis for the origin of life301Some physical problems in biology: Aspects of the origin and structure of the first cell315Repetitive elements of protein sequences as fossils of early life331The first eukaryotic cell-acid hot-spring algae335Thoughts on the origin and nature of life and intelligence on earth349The beginning of the first cell359List of participants367Index373
