From Stardust to First Cells: The Origin and Evolution of Early Life

ISBN-13: 9783031233968 / Angielski / Twarda / 2023 / 290 str.

Sankar Chatterjee

Opis

This book presents a groundbreaking hypothesis to answer one of the greatest scientific mysteries: How did life begin? Like a detective piecing together seemingly disparate bits of evidence, Dr. Sankar Chatterjee combines the most recent discoveries in cosmology, geology, chemistry, information system, and biology, weaving a vast tapestry from the threads of current research and intermingling these various scientific disciplines takes them to their ultimate conclusion. The odyssey of life first began when the fundamental building blocks were brought to Earth by meteorites. These cosmic compounds concentrated and simmered like a soup in hydrothermal crater-caldrons. Through a system of subterranean vent networks, a biosynthetic-rich variety of organic compounds mixed and matched and attained a propitious recipe of rich biomolecules guided by prebiotic information systems. Through symbiosis, these complex biopolymers gradually assemble into membrane-bound protocells. At each stage of this evolutionary progression, through natural selection, they refined with increasing stability and complexity, ultimately leading to the emergence of the first cells about four billion years ago.

Spis treści

1.     Prologue                                                              

2.     Defining life                                                                                                             

3.     Origin of life: a model of hierarchical complexity                          

4.     Cosmic connections                                                                                              

5.     The cradle of life                                                                                                   

6.     Bioenergetics and primitive metabolism                                                

7.     Chemical stage                                                                                                       

8.     Lipid membrane: encapsulating life                                                           

9.     The RNA world—reality or dogma?                                                           

10.  The age of information                                                                                     

11.  A code script for life                                                                                          

12.  The advent of proteins                                                                                      

13.  The virus world in deep time                                                                          

14.  DNA takes over                                                                                                       

15.  First life                                                                                                                     

16.  Life beyond earth                                                                                               

17.  Epilogue

 

 

 

 

O autorze

Sankar Chatterjee is Paul Whitfield Horn Distinguished Professor of Geosciences and Curator of Paleontology at Texas Tech University. He received his Ph.D. from Calcutta University and was a Postdoctoral fellow at the Smithsonian Institution. He taught at the University of California, Berkeley, and George Washington University before he moved to Texas Tech. His current research focuses on astrobiology and the origin of life. He is an elected fellow of the Geological Society of America and the American Association of the Advancement of Science. He led several expeditions to Antarctica, China, India, and the American Southwest in search of dinosaurs and early birds. His previous book, The Rise of Birds (Johns Hopkins University Press), has been translated into many languages.

Blurb

This book presents a groundbreaking hypothesis to answer one of the greatest scientific mysteries: How did life begin? Like a detective piecing together seemingly disparate bits of evidence, Dr. Sankar Chatterjee combines the most recent discoveries in cosmology, geology, chemistry, information systems, and biology, weaving a vast tapestry from the threads of current research. Dr. Chatterjee convincingly argues that the odyssey of life first began when the fundamental building blocks were brought to Earth by meteorites. These cosmic compounds concentrated and simmered like a soup in hydrothermal crater-caldrons. Through a system of subterranean vent networks, a biosynthetic-rich variety of organic compounds mixed and matched into a recipe of rich biomolecules guided by prebiotic information systems. Through symbiosis, these complex biopolymers gradually assemble into membrane-bound protocells. At each stage of this evolutionary progression, through natural selection, they refined with increasing stability and complexity, ultimately leading to the emergence of the first cells about four billion years ago. In this book, Dr. Chatterjee tells this story in rigorous detail in language that is both accessible and engaging.