scholarly journals Microscopic Dissipative Structuring at the Origin of Life

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karo Michaelian
Keyword(s):  
Radiative Decay ◽  
Double Helix ◽  
Solar Spectrum ◽  
Conical Intersection ◽  
Origin And Evolution ◽  
Physical Chemical ◽  
Evolution Of Life ◽  
The Origin Of Life ◽  
Uv C ◽  
Rna And Dna

AbstractFundamental molecules of life are suggested to be formed, proliferated, and evolved through microscopic dissipative structuring and autocatalytic replication under the UV-C solar spectrum prevalent at Earth’s surface throughout the Archean. Evidence is given in the numerous salient characteristics of these, including their strong absorption in this spectral region, their rapid non-radiative decay through an inherent conical intersection, UV-C activation (phos-phorylation) of nucleotides, and UV-C induced denaturing of double helix RNA and DNA. The examples of the dissipative structuring and dissipative proliferation of the purines and of single strand DNA are given. This provides a physical-chemical foundation for understanding the origin and evolution of life.

scholarly journals Fundamental molecules of life are pigments which arose and co-evolved as a response to the thermodynamic imperative of dissipating the prevailing solar spectrum

2015 ◽  
Vol 12 (16) ◽  
pp. 4913-4937 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Michaelian ◽  
A. Simeonov
Keyword(s):  
Cross Sections ◽  
Dissipation Rate ◽  
Solar Spectrum ◽  
Photochemical Process ◽  
Origin And Evolution ◽  
Organic Pigments ◽  
Early Atmosphere ◽  
Evolution Of Life ◽  
History Of ◽  
Uv C

Abstract. The driving force behind the origin and evolution of life has been the thermodynamic imperative of increasing the entropy production of the biosphere through increasing the global solar photon dissipation rate. In the upper atmosphere of today, oxygen and ozone derived from life processes are performing the short-wavelength UV-C and UV-B dissipation. On Earth's surface, water and organic pigments in water facilitate the near-UV and visible photon dissipation. The first organic pigments probably formed, absorbed, and dissipated at those photochemically active wavelengths in the UV-C and UV-B that could have reached Earth's surface during the Archean. Proliferation of these pigments can be understood as an autocatalytic photochemical process obeying non-equilibrium thermodynamic directives related to increasing solar photon dissipation rate. Under these directives, organic pigments would have evolved over time to increase the global photon dissipation rate by (1) increasing the ratio of their effective photon cross sections to their physical size, (2) decreasing their electronic excited state lifetimes, (3) quenching radiative de-excitation channels (e.g., fluorescence), (4) covering ever more completely the prevailing solar spectrum, and (5) proliferating and dispersing to cover an ever greater surface area of Earth. From knowledge of the evolution of the spectrum of G-type stars, and considering the most probable history of the transparency of Earth's atmosphere, we construct the most probable Earth surface solar spectrum as a function of time and compare this with the history of molecular absorption maxima obtained from the available data in the literature. This comparison supports the conjecture that many fundamental molecules of life are pigments which arose, proliferated, and co-evolved as a response to dissipating the solar spectrum, supports the thermodynamic dissipation theory for the origin of life, constrains models for Earth's early atmosphere, and sheds some new light on the origin of photosynthesis.

scholarly journals DNA Denaturing through Photon Dissipation: A Possible Route to Archean Non-enzymatic Replication

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karo Michaelian ◽  
Norberto Santillán Padilla
Keyword(s):  
Origin Of Life ◽  
Solar Spectrum ◽  
Thermodynamic Process ◽  
Equilibrium Thermodynamic ◽  
Base Pairs ◽  
Synthetic Dna ◽  
The Origin Of Life ◽  
Average Size ◽  
Uv C ◽  
Rna And Dna

AbstractFormidable difficulties arise when attempting to explain the non-enzymatic replication, proliferation, and the acquisition of homochirality and information content, of RNA and DNA at the beginnings of life. However, new light can be shed on these problems by viewing the origin of life as a non-equilibrium thermodynamic process in which RNA, DNA and other fundamental molecules of life arose as structures to dissipate the prevailing solar spectrum. Here we present experimental results which demonstrate that the absorption and dissipation of UV-C light by DNA at temperatures below their melting temperature leads to complete and reversible denaturing for small synthetic DNA of 25 base pairs (bp), and to partial and reversible denaturing for 48 bp DNA and for large salmon sperm and yeast DNA of average size 100 kbp. This result has direct bearing on the above mentioned problems and thereby opens the door to a possible thermodynamic route to the origin of life.

scholarly journals Fundamental molecules of life are pigments which arose and evolved to dissipate the solar spectrum

2015 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 2101-2160 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Michaelian ◽  
A. Simeonov
Keyword(s):  
Cross Sections ◽  
Dissipation Rate ◽  
Solar Spectrum ◽  
Photochemical Process ◽  
Physical Size ◽  
Origin And Evolution ◽  
Organic Pigments ◽  
Early Atmosphere ◽  
Evolution Of Life ◽  
History Of

Abstract. The driving force behind the origin and evolution of life has been the thermodynamic imperative of increasing the entropy production of the biosphere through increasing the global solar photon dissipation rate. In the upper atmosphere of today, oxygen and ozone derived from life processes are performing the short wavelength UVC and UVB dissipation. On Earth's surface, water and organic pigments in water facilitate the near UV and visible photon dissipation. The first organic pigments probably formed, absorbed, and dissipated at those photochemically active wavelengths in the UVC that could have reached Earth's surface during the Archean. Proliferation of these pigments can be understood as an autocatalytic photochemical process obeying non-equilibrium thermodynamic directives related to increasing solar photon dissipation rate. Under these directives, organic pigments would have evolved over time to increase the global photon dissipation rate by; (1) increasing the ratio of their effective photon cross sections to their physical size, (2) decreasing their electronic excited state life times, (3) quenching radiative de-excitation channels (e.g. fluorescence), (4) covering ever more completely the prevailing solar spectrum, and (5) proliferating and dispersing to cover an ever greater surface area of Earth. From knowledge of the evolution of the spectrum of G-type stars, and considering the most probable history of the transparency of Earth's atmosphere, we construct the most probable Earth surface solar spectrum as a function of time and compare this with the history of molecular absorption maxima obtained from the available data in the literature. This comparison supports the conjecture that many fundamental molecules of life are pigments which arose and evolved to dissipate the solar spectrum, supports the thermodynamic dissipation theory for the origin of life, constrains models for Earth's early atmosphere, and sheds some new light on the origin of photosynthesis.

scholarly journals Comment on K. Michaelian and A. Simeonov (2015) “Fundamental molecules of life are pigments which arose and co-evolved as a response to the thermodynamic imperative of dissipating the prevailing solar spectrum”

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lars Olof Björn
Keyword(s):  
Solar Radiation ◽  
Entropy Production ◽  
Driving Force ◽  
Dissipation Rate ◽  
Solar Spectrum ◽  
Origin And Evolution ◽  
Evolution Of Life

Abstract. This is a comment to: “Fundamental molecules of life are pigments which arose and co-evolved as a response to the thermodynamic imperative of dissipating the prevailing solar spectrum” by K. Michaelian and A. Simeonov, Biogeosciences, 12, 4913–4937, 2015. Michaelian and Simeonov formulate the leading thought in their article “The driving force behind the origin and evolution of life has been the thermodynamic imperative of increasing the entropy production of the biosphere through increasing the global solar photon dissipation rate”. I doubt that the reasoning that follows regarding the role of “pigments” (in which they include all substances able to absorb solar radiation) is correct.

scholarly journals On the origin and evolution of life in the Galaxy

2010 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 217-226 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael McCabe ◽  
Holly Lucas
Keyword(s):  
Extraterrestrial Life ◽  
Evolutionary Transitions ◽  
Origin And Evolution ◽  
A Value ◽  
Evolution Of Life ◽  
Life On Mars ◽  
The Galaxy ◽  
The Origin Of Life ◽  
The Universe ◽  
Present Understanding

AbstractA simple stochastic model for evolution, based upon the need to pass a sequence of n critical steps is applied to both terrestrial and extraterrestrial origins of life. In the former case, the time at which humans have emerged during the habitable period of Earth suggests a value of n=4. Progressively adding earlier evolutionary transitions gives an optimum fit when n=5, implying either that their initial transitions are not critical or that habitability began around 6 Ga ago. The origin of life on Mars or elsewhere within the Solar System is excluded by the latter case and the simple anthropic argument is that extraterrestrial life is scarce in the Universe because it does not have time to evolve. Alternatively, the timescale can be extended if the migration of basic progenotic material to Earth is possible. If extra transitions are included in the model to allow for Earth migration, then the start of habitability needs to be even earlier than 6 Ga ago. Our present understanding of Galactic habitability and dynamics does not exclude this possibility. We conclude that Galactic punctuated equilibrium, proposed as a way round the anthropic problem, is not the only way of making life more common in the Galaxy.

Seeking to uncover biology's chemical roots

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (5) ◽  
pp. 435-443 ◽  
Author(s):  
Addy Pross
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Biological Systems ◽  
Significant Development ◽  
The Road ◽  
Physical Chemical ◽  
Systems Chemistry ◽  
Biological World ◽  
Inanimate Matter ◽  
The Origin Of Life ◽  
Opening Up

Despite the considerable advances in molecular biology over the past several decades, the nature of the physical–chemical process by which inanimate matter become transformed into simplest life remains elusive. In this review, we describe recent advances in a relatively new area of chemistry, systems chemistry, which attempts to uncover the physical–chemical principles underlying that remarkable transformation. A significant development has been the discovery that within the space of chemical potentiality there exists a largely unexplored kinetic domain which could be termed dynamic kinetic chemistry. Our analysis suggests that all biological systems and associated sub-systems belong to this distinct domain, thereby facilitating the placement of biological systems within a coherent physical/chemical framework. That discovery offers new insights into the origin of life process, as well as opening the door toward the preparation of active materials able to self-heal, adapt to environmental changes, even communicate, mimicking what transpires routinely in the biological world. The road to simplest proto-life appears to be opening up.

scholarly journals Rationale for BepiColombo Studies of Mercury’s Surface and Composition

2020 ◽  
Vol 216 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
David A. Rothery ◽  
Matteo Massironi ◽  
Giulia Alemanno ◽  
Océane Barraud ◽  
Sebastien Besse ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Heliocentric Distance ◽  
Topographic Mapping ◽  
Space Weathering ◽  
Volatile Species ◽  
Origin And Evolution ◽  
Geological Processes ◽  
Physical Chemical ◽  
Crustal Origin ◽  
Northern And Southern Hemispheres

Abstract BepiColombo has a larger and in many ways more capable suite of instruments relevant for determination of the topographic, physical, chemical and mineralogical properties of Mercury’s surface than the suite carried by NASA’s MESSENGER spacecraft. Moreover, BepiColombo’s data rate is substantially higher. This equips it to confirm, elaborate upon, and go beyond many of MESSENGER’s remarkable achievements. Furthermore, the geometry of BepiColombo’s orbital science campaign, beginning in 2026, will enable it to make uniformly resolved observations of both northern and southern hemispheres. This will offer more detailed and complete imaging and topographic mapping, element mapping with better sensitivity and improved spatial resolution, and totally new mineralogical mapping. We discuss MESSENGER data in the context of preparing for BepiColombo, and describe the contributions that we expect BepiColombo to make towards increased knowledge and understanding of Mercury’s surface and its composition. Much current work, including analysis of analogue materials, is directed towards better preparing ourselves to understand what BepiColombo might reveal. Some of MESSENGER’s more remarkable observations were obtained under unique or extreme conditions. BepiColombo should be able to confirm the validity of these observations and reveal the extent to which they are representative of the planet as a whole. It will also make new observations to clarify geological processes governing and reflecting crustal origin and evolution. We anticipate that the insights gained into Mercury’s geological history and its current space weathering environment will enable us to better understand the relationships of surface chemistry, morphologies and structures with the composition of crustal types, including the nature and mobility of volatile species. This will enable estimation of the composition of the mantle from which the crust was derived, and lead to tighter constraints on models for Mercury’s origin including the nature and original heliocentric distance of the material from which it formed.

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