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Origin of Life and LUCA (Last Universal Common Ancestor)

Origin of Life Compendium Review Wish List

1.  Review text chapters for this section

2.  Visit all web resources at bottom of this page--view articles and watch videos.

3.  Be sure your compendium notebook draft covers the following topics and concepts:

THE ORIGIN OF LIFE

• GEOLOGICAL CONDITIONS FOR THE ORIGIN OF LIFE (when and where did life begin?)

  • When, relative to age of Earth did life begin?

  • Evidence for the age and origin of life on Earth?

  • Role of deep sea vents?

  • New "serpentine" model of the origin of life?

• CHEMICAL CONDITIONS FOR THE ORIGIN OF LIFE (how did life begin?)

  • Sequence of chemical events for the origin of life--big topic!

  • Significance of Miller-Urey experiments

  • RNA world

LAST UNIVERSAL COMMON ANCESTOR (LUCA)

• Evolutionary Trees and how they are constructed

• homologies

• descent with modification

• How are features of LUCA inferred from modern biodiversity?

• Major groups that branch early from root of tree of life--Archaea, Bacteria, Eukaryotes

• Where are viruses on tree of life?

Slides on how to reconstruct LUCA  

Web Resources

Nick Lane articles on chemiosmosis and origin of life in white alkaline vents

Why energy shapes evolution

How did LUCA make a living?

Astrobiology Magazine Article 

Serpentine Origin of LIfe--Norm Sleep, Stanford Geologist

• ABC News report

• Royal Society report

• Original  pub in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society

Hazen update on Miller-Urey experiments 

The RNA World-- from Molecular Biology of the Cell

LUCA complexity 

Nick Lane--Cell Energetics Evolution

Nick Lane--How did LUCA Make a Living

Larry M Frolich, Ph.D.  ∞   Miami Dade College  ∞   Wolfson Campus   ∞   Natural Sciences   ∞   Miami, FL  33132  ∞  Office 1504   ∞  (305) 237-7589  ∞  e-mail