The primordial soup in prose

[Protozoa]

The primordial soup in prose

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(I wasn't quite sure which biology subsection to post this in)


Primordial sea/probiotic soup/primeval soup, whichever term you want to use...

I have become very interested in evolution recently, although my knowledge, I think is still fairly limited. The whole process, and the history of it excites my imagination on so many levels, and so I thought I would try to apply what we know of our evolution to some kind of prose, beginning with the primordial sea.

However, a lot of the description is quite technical and doesn't come close to a descriptive idea of what the whole thing actually looked like. I've been trying my best, taking some poetic liberties, but I don't want to be too far off the mark.

And so, I come here. Can any of you help? Any information that you think would improve my efforts is gratefully accepted.

[DrDNA]

You might try Google terms = "abiogenesis"
or "origin of life".

You'll find a lot, but Wikipedia has some pretty good, not too technical explanations for these.

[iNow]

Originally Posted by DrDNA

You might try Google terms = "abiogenesis"
or "origin of life".

You'll find a lot,

Just try to avoid the creationism garbage and lies. That will just send you down the wrong path and can be a bit of a pandora's box. Stick to the science, that which is repeatable and testable, and you will actually learn something other than falsehoods.


Enjoy.

[Protozoa]

Originally Posted by DrDNA

You might try Google terms = "abiogenesis"
or "origin of life".

You'll find a lot, but Wikipedia has some pretty good, not too technical explanations for these.

Ah yes, I thought about calling this section of the book "Abiogenesis". I have been on the origin of life wikipedia page before- it was quite helpful, I was baffled by some of it and I think I still need to develop my understanding of RNA.

Originally Posted by iNow

Just try to avoid the creationism garbage and lies. That will just send you down the wrong path and can be a bit of a pandora's box. Stick to the science, that which is repeatable and testable, and you will actually learn something other than falsehoods.


Enjoy.

Oh, don't worry about it. I'm far, far from going anywhere near creationism other than for a good laugh.

[DrDNA]

Originally Posted by iNow

Just try to avoid the creationism garbage and lies. That will just send you down the wrong path and can be a bit of a pandora's box. Stick to the science, that which is repeatable and testable, and you will actually learn something other than falsehoods.


Enjoy.

Not too worried about offending anyone are we?

[Protozoa]

Originally Posted by DrDNA

Not too worried about offending anyone are we?

Why should he be?

[DrDNA]

Never mind. Just avoid the creationism garbage, lies, and falsehoods.......or your eternal soul will burn in hell....forever....and your little dog Toto too...

[lucaspa]

Originally Posted by Protozoa

However, a lot of the description is quite technical and doesn't come close to a descriptive idea of what the whole thing actually looked like.

What it looked like was water with a lower salt content than the present sea but a higher content of amino acids, sugars, and nucleic acids. However, it was still a pretty dilute solution of these. It's not like it is going to be thick like a "soup"; it's going to be clear. Clearer than the modern ocean (which has quite a few microogranisms per ml). It's just that you have a solution of salts and organic chemicals.

[DrDNA]

Originally Posted by lucaspa

What it looked like was water with a lower salt content than the present sea but a higher content of amino acids, sugars, and nucleic acids. However, it was still a pretty dilute solution of these. It's not like it is going to be thick like a "soup"; it's going to be clear. Clearer than the modern ocean (which has quite a few microogranisms per ml). It's just that you have a solution of salts and organic chemicals.

What? Where did the sugars and nucleic acids come from?

[lucaspa]

Originally Posted by DrDNA

What? Where did the sugars and nucleic acids come from?

Lightning in the atmosphere and hydrothermal vents. The Miller-Urey reactions (which also work in a non-reducing atmosphere) make sugars, formic acid, cyanide, purines, and pyrimidines (bases) in addition to amino acids. This is usually overlooked in web articles, which just mention the amino acids.

"The Miller-Urey experiments in the late 40’s and early 50’s showed that organic molecules could be formed by inorganic processes under primitive earth conditions. By discharging electric sparks in a large flask containing boiling water, methane, hydrogen and ammonia, conditions presumed to be similar to those of the early earth, they produced amino acids and other organic molecules experimentally. Using variations of their technique, most of the major building blocks of life have been produced: amino acids, sugars, nucleic acid bases and lipids. "
http://www.utdallas.edu/~cirillo/nats/day18.htm

Lehninger's Biochemistry 1974 edition went into more detail on this. The research is more than 30 years old by now so most of it is in print, not on the web. For instance, this book -- http://www.ecampus.com/book/1891389289 -- has several pages in Chapter 13 devoted to the abiotic synthesis of sugars and nucleic acids.

[Fred56]

There are some theories that try to imagine or model how compartmentalisation happened, and at things like dripping or sploshing water, and bits of minerals (silicates, iron, any mineral surface or small pocket somewhere, say), and the panspermia concept: that life arrived in a meteorite. Because much of what occurs at the cellular level is self-assembling, or self regulating, and encapsulation is an important requirement, so how did it come about...

[lucaspa]

Originally Posted by Fred56

Because much of what occurs at the cellular level is self-assembling, or self regulating, and encapsulation is an important requirement, so how did it come about...

1. Bacteria don't have "encapsulation" within the cell.
2. If, by "encapsulation" you mean a cell membrane, then this is one area where the protocells are so cool. The proteins themselves form the membrane. Remember, today's cells have membranes that are 60% protein! The idea of a lipid bilayer omits the majority of the membrane. The all-protein membranes of protocells are semi-permeable. This is demonstrated by their having action potentials identical to modern nerve cells.

3. Organelles in eukaryotic cells can have arisen several ways:

a. Symbiosis of bacteria. This is how mitochondria and chloroplasts came to be
b. Internal connections to the cell membrane: this could have given rise to lysosomes.
c. The protocells often form like an onion, with several layers of internal membranes. This could be the origin of a nucleus and the Golgi.