Abiogenesis Is Possible

My argument will be relatively short in this round, as my burden is only to prove the possibility of abiogenesis. "It turns out that it’s pretty easy to form many kinds of organic molecules, in a wide range of environments. .. There is a long history of attempts to create various organic molecules – such as amino acids – from simple precursors such as carbon dioxide, ammonia, and water, in conditions which simulate those of the early Earth. "[1]Abiogenesis is not some fringe scientific concept; it should not be confused with the idea of spontaneous generation. The main hypothesis of abiogenesis is that organic materials on the Earth (coalescing from internal organic compounds and asteroid impacts) agglomerated into life forms. "Concentrated thus they react to form glyceraldehyde, amino acids, and the components of nucleosides. " And so became the materials necessary for life. [2]Now on to how abiogenesis can result from simple organic compounds. "Essential to the spontaneous origin of life was the availability of organic molecules as building blocks. The famous prebiotic soup’ experiment by Stanley Miller had shown that amino acids, the building blocks of proteins, arose among other small organic molecules spontaneously by reacting a mixture of methane, hydrogen, ammonia and water in a spark discharge apparatus. These conditions were assumed to simulate those on the primitive Earth. Already in 1922 Oparin had proposed that the early Earth had such a reducing atmosphere. .. It was suggested that only in a reducing atmosphere like this, synthesis of organic molecules – also sugars and organic bases, building blocks of nucleotides – would have been possible in large amounts. "(Note that when the author uses the term "spontaneously", he refers to the reaction of molecules into compouds; it's not like the compounds suddenly came into existence. )[3][4][5]An illustration of the Miller-Urey experiment can be seen here: One of the most important building blocks of life is nucleotides, as they make up both DNA and RNA, the genetic "code" the defines every individual's characteristics. These nucleotides could easily have formed from the "primordial soup" as well, due to their similar chemical structure, as illustrated here[7]: These newly created organic compounds eventually coalesced into the first complex substance contained in life - RNA: "John Sutherland and his colleagues from the University of Manchester, UK, created a ribonucleotide, a building block of RNA, from simple chemicals under conditions that might have existed on the early Earth. ""The study by the group of John Sutherland shows how nature could have spontaneously assembled pyrimidine ribonucleotide monomers from prebiotically plausible molecules through intermediates that contribute atoms to both the sugar and base portions of the ribonucleotides, thus avoiding a condensation step of sugar and base altogether"[3][6]This chart shows how this process is possible: Caption: "Pyrimidine ribonucleotide assembly options. Previously assumed synthesis of b-ribocytidine-2’,3’-cyclic phosphate 1 (blue; note the failure of the step in which cytosine 3 and ribose 4 are proposed to condense together) and the successful new synthesis described here (green). p, pyranose; f, furanose. (5 = Cyanoacetaldehyde, 6 = urea 6, cyanoacetylene 7, 8= cyanamide, 9 = glyceraldehyde, 10 = glycolaldehyde, 11 = 2-amino-oxazole, 12= pentose amino-oxazoline, arabinose derivative, 13 = anhydroarabinonucleoside). "[3]So essentially, this is the process of abiogenesis in a nutshell[7]: The next process would be to start to coalesce these life materials into a living organism. "The group of Jack Szostak has performed extensive and plausible studies that these fatty acid vesicles as containers for RNA would have allowed growth and replication merely by physico-chemical mechanisms, until a more sophisticated membrane machinery, steered by the cell itself and more resembling what is found in current organisms, would have taken their place. .. The group of Szostak also has demonstrated that nucleotides can pass through prebiotically plausible fatty-acid based vesicles and that non-enzymatic template copying of a model oligo dC DNA template can take place within them, which, in connection with the studies of vesicle growth and division, reveals in principle how a heterotrophic protocell may have functioned. "[3][8]Further, "Extrapolating from all the above data, inside fatty-acid vesicles the first self-replicating RNA molecule could have started copying itself. During copying, various things would have been possible. High-fidelity copies would have yielded the same self-replicating molecule. Copies with errors would mostly have resulted in RNA that was non-functional, but in a minority of cases, they could have yielded RNA that copied itself faster. It has been shown that RNA/vesicle systems that contain more genetic material (which would have resulted from faster RNA replication) develop more internal tension than neighboring vesicles that do not contain as much RNA, and draw membrane material from them. Importantly, this would have allowed for natural selection of vesicles by competition even in the absence of the ability to synthesize their own membrane components and therefore to directly control their own growth. Thus, for the first time, a system would have had the ability to undergo Darwinian evolution by natural selection acting on variation. This would have been a new and crucial emergent property arising at the transition from non-life to life. . "[3][9]This process can be illustrated here: Caption: "Conceptual model of a heterotrophic protocell. Growth of the protocell membrane results from the incorporation of environmentally supplied amphiphiles, whereas division may be driven by intrinsic or extrinsic physical forces. Externally supplied activated nucleotides permeate across the protocell membrane and act as substrates for the copying of internal templates. Complete template replication followed by random segregation of the replicated genetic material leads to the formation of daughter protocells. "I am going to end my argument here with this quote: "This is among the simplest semblance of “life” that we have described, as biotic things commonly serve to create order from chaos (organize materials) in an effort to enhance their own survival. It wouldn’t take much to imagine that this could initiate a snowball effect, resulting in the hoarding of mass amounts of complex molecules, which would aid in the creation of small, self-replicating molecules that are capable of evolving to better survive in their environment (life). "[7]I've been through the majority of the important stages of abiogenesis and proving them. That last quote pretty much explains how a heterotrophic protocell could have evolved into prokaroytes, eukaroytes, and complex life. Sources[1]: . http://www.universetoday.com...;[2]: . http://www.gla.ac.uk...[3]: . http://www.talkorigins.org...[4]: Miller, SL. "A production of amino acids under possible primitive earth conditions. " Science. 117 (1953): 528-529 [5]: Chyba C and Carl Sagan. "Endogenous production, exogenous delivery and impact-shock synthesis of organic molecules: an inventory for the origins of life. " Nature. 355:125-132 [6]: . http://www.nature.com...[7]: . http://christopherjrex.hubpages.com... #[8]: Mansy SS and Szostak JW. "Thermostability of model protocell membranes. " Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 105 (2008): 13351-13355 [9]: . http://www.sciencedaily.com...NOTE: Sources 4-5 and 8 were quoted from source 1.