Antonio Lazcano, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City, Mexico
Published online: April 2001
DOI: 10.1038/npg.els.0000553
Life may be the outcome of a process of prebiotic evolution that involved the self-organization of abiotically synthesized organic molecules.
Keywords: origin of life; heterotrophic hypothesis; primitive soup; primitive Earth; pyrite-based autotrophy
| References | |
| book Brack A (ed.) (1998) The Molecular Origins of Life: Assembling Pieces of the Puzzle. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. | |
| Chyba C and Sagan C (1992) Endogenous production, exogenous delivery, and impact-shock synthesis of organic molecules: an inventory for the origin of life. Nature 355: 125–132. | |
| Eschenmoser A (1999) Chemical etiology of nucleic acid structure. Science 284: 2118–2124. | |
| Ferris JP (1999) Prebiotic synthesis on minerals: bridging the prebiotic and RNA worlds. Biological Bulletin 196: 311–314. | |
| book Holm NG (ed.) (1992) Marine Hydrothermal Systems and the Origin of Life. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic. | |
| Huber C and Wächtershäuser G (1997) Activated acetic acid by carbon fixation on (Fe,Ni)S under primordial conditions. Science 276: 245–247. | |
| Lazcano A and Miller SL (1996) The origin and early evolution of life: prebiotic chemistry, the RNA world, and time. Cell 85: 793–796. | |
| Maden BEH (1995) No soup for starters? Autotrophy and origins of metabolism. Trends in Biochemical Sciences 20: 337–341. | |
| book Miller SL (1998) "The endogenous synthesis of organic compounds". In: Brack A (ed.) The Molecular Origins of Life: Assembling Pieces of the Puzzle, pp. 59–85. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. | |
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| Orgel LE (1998) The origin of life – a review of facts and speculations. Trends in Biochemical Sciences 23: 491–495. | |
| book Wills C and Bada J (2000) The Spark of Life: Darwin and the Primeval Soup. New York: Perseus Publishing. | |
| Further Reading | |
| book Brack A (ed.) (1998) The Molecular Origins of Life: Assembling Pieces of the Puzzle. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. | |
| book Geesteland RF, Cech T and Atkins JF (1999) The RNA World II. Cold Spring Harbor, NY: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press. | |
| book Holm NG (ed.) (1992) Marine Hydrothermal Systems and the Origin of Life. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic. | |
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