Joost
07-06-2011, 10:33
Inleiding
"evolution of life" in de titel klopt eigenlijk niet, evolutie gaat over de "verandering van leven", niet over "het ontstaan van leven", dat noemen we "abiogenese".
Biochemist’s ‘First Life’ explains evolution of life on Earth
(bron: dailyindia.com)
Washington, June 5: Biochemist David Deamer has been researching on the evolution of life on Earth since the past 30 years and has presented the excerpts of the study in his new book 'First Life'.
He has not only just presented a personal history of his work in this field but also an engaging overview of research into life's beginnings under the discipline called astrobiology.
"Astrobiology is a narrative that encompasses our understanding of star formation, the formation of our solar system, the early Earth environment, and how chemical compounds behave in such a way that they are driven toward increasing complexity of structures and interactions," said Deamer, a research professor of biomolecular engineering in the Baskin School of Engineering at UC Santa Cruz.
In his research, Deamer has mainly focussed on the role of membranes in the origins of life.
He concluded that "the first life was not just replicating molecules, it was an encapsulated system of molecules: a cell."
His study showed that wet-dry cycles in a system including membrane-forming lipids can drive the replication of a DNA molecule without any need for the polymerase enzyme that performs this function in living cells today.
"Some people are still skeptical-I think the new results have to soak in for awhile, and the experiment needs to be repeated by others. I've had this idea for the past 20 years that lipids could have an organizing effect that helps polymerization occur and then encapsulate the resulting polymers to produce simple cellular structures," Deamer added.
In addition to laboratory experiments, Deamer has conducted field experiments at volcanic sites in Russia, Hawaii, and California. "I think we need to be bolder in testing our ideas," he said. "There has to be sufficient complexity in our experiments to match the complex conditions of the origin of life. That's one reason I started doing experiments in real-world environments."
The study has been published in the January issue of the journal Biochimie.
"evolution of life" in de titel klopt eigenlijk niet, evolutie gaat over de "verandering van leven", niet over "het ontstaan van leven", dat noemen we "abiogenese".
Biochemist’s ‘First Life’ explains evolution of life on Earth
(bron: dailyindia.com)
Washington, June 5: Biochemist David Deamer has been researching on the evolution of life on Earth since the past 30 years and has presented the excerpts of the study in his new book 'First Life'.
He has not only just presented a personal history of his work in this field but also an engaging overview of research into life's beginnings under the discipline called astrobiology.
"Astrobiology is a narrative that encompasses our understanding of star formation, the formation of our solar system, the early Earth environment, and how chemical compounds behave in such a way that they are driven toward increasing complexity of structures and interactions," said Deamer, a research professor of biomolecular engineering in the Baskin School of Engineering at UC Santa Cruz.
In his research, Deamer has mainly focussed on the role of membranes in the origins of life.
He concluded that "the first life was not just replicating molecules, it was an encapsulated system of molecules: a cell."
His study showed that wet-dry cycles in a system including membrane-forming lipids can drive the replication of a DNA molecule without any need for the polymerase enzyme that performs this function in living cells today.
"Some people are still skeptical-I think the new results have to soak in for awhile, and the experiment needs to be repeated by others. I've had this idea for the past 20 years that lipids could have an organizing effect that helps polymerization occur and then encapsulate the resulting polymers to produce simple cellular structures," Deamer added.
In addition to laboratory experiments, Deamer has conducted field experiments at volcanic sites in Russia, Hawaii, and California. "I think we need to be bolder in testing our ideas," he said. "There has to be sufficient complexity in our experiments to match the complex conditions of the origin of life. That's one reason I started doing experiments in real-world environments."
The study has been published in the January issue of the journal Biochimie.