TRACING

EVOLUTIONARY
HISTORY
Origins of life
UNIT 3
Lesson 12
Chapter 15
 OBJECTIVES
• Discuss when, where and how life began
• Describe the prebiotic evolution was controlled by
early atmosphere and climate
• Describe Miller-Urey Experiment
• Discuss The RNA-world hypothesis
• What were the first organisms like
• Timeline of events
 EARLY EARTH AND
THE ORIGIN OF LIFE

© 2015 Pearson Education, Inc.

Conditions on Early Earth
 EARTH’S EARLY ATMOSPHERE

4.6 Billion Years Old

Geologic evidence shows
Earth formed 4.6 BYA

Early Atmosphere
Probably contained CO2, CO,
Nitrogen, Ammonia, Methane
But, No Oxygen!
(wouldn’t support life)

3.8 BYA
Earth cooled enough for liquid
water to form
 Chemical conditions of the early Earth
● Four requirements for the
current model for chemical
evolution of life were likely met
in the early Earth
1. little or no free oxygen
2. abundant energy sources
● volcanism, thunderstorms, and
bombardment with particles and
radiation from space
● especially important is more UV
radiation than today
● the sun was hotter, producing more
UV light
● the Earth had no ozone layer to
filter out most of the UV light
coming in
 Chemical conditions of the early Earth
● Four requirements for the current model for chemical
evolution of life were likely met in the early Earth

3. chemical building blocks of water, dissolved mineral ions,

and atmospheric gases

4. time – there was plenty of time before the first traces of life
from 3.8 bya
How old is this planet anyway?
• The Universe is probably ~13 billion years
old (Big Bang Theory/Doppler Shift)
• Earth is ~4.6 billion years old (begins with
cooling of crust/solidification)
• Earliest records of life ~3.5 billion years
ago
• First humans (Australopithecus), 0.005
billion years ago
• Discovery of Australopithecus fossils ,
0.0000000002 billion years ago
 When did life begin?
• Earth is App. 4.6 billion years old
• How long did it took the crust to solidify?
• How far is the oldest fossil dated back to?
• How old are prokaryotes? When was the first
divergence of Bacteria and Archae?
 When Did life Begin?

1. The earth was formed ~4.6 billion years ago

2. It took ~500 million years for the crust to solidify.

3. The oldest fossils of microorganisms

• dates 3.5 billion years old

3a. Prokaryotes dominated from 3.5 to 2 billion years ago.

- During this time, the first divergence occurred:
Bacteria and Archae
The Fragility of Life - Coincidence
#1
• Life can only exist
within temperatures
corresponding to the
boiling and freezing
point of water
• This range is a fraction
of the range between
absolute zero (-273°C)
and the temperature of
the sun (106°C)
 How did life evolve?

• Three theories
• Creationism
• Extraterrestrial origin (Panspermia)
• Spontaneous Origin
Theories of early earth
I. Early Theory: conditions on early Earth made the origin of life possible

A. Spontaneous Generation (Abiogenesis)- The hypothesis that

life arises regularly from non-living thing – 4 steps
1. The abiotic (nonliving) synthesis of small
organic molecules, such as amino acids and
nitrogenous bases.
2. Polymerization- The joining of these small
molecules into polymers, such as proteins and
nucleic acids.
3. The packaging of these molecules into
“protocells,” membrane-enclosed droplets that
maintained an internal chemistry different from
that of their surroundings.
4. The origin of self-replicating molecules that
eventually made inheritance possible.
III. Theories Explaining the Formation of Life

A. The Formation of Complex Molecules: the Miller/Urey Experiment (1953)

1. Miller and Urey simulated the conditions of Earth’s early atmosphere
and oceans, adding energy to simulate the lightning that was believed
to be commonplace
2. After one week, 10-15% of the carbon had turned into organic
compounds, and 2% of the carbon had created amino acids, the
building blocks of proteins/life
III. Theories Explaining the Formation of Life cont.

B. Molecules from Space (Panspermia)

1. Many of the compounds produced by the Miller/Urey experiment are
known to exist in space.
2. If these compounds can survive the harshness of space, perhaps they were
present when earth initially formed.
3. Organic molecules could have also been brought to earth by space debris.
IV. Current Theories

A. The Formation of Complex Molecules

1. Collections of these molecules tend to gather together into tiny round
droplets known as coacervates
a) In the laboratory, these droplets have been shown to grow and
divide!
b) Coacervates are not living cells, but their existence suggests ways
in which the first cell may have formed.
c) Early oceans are the perfect environment for coacervates – warm,
wet, large, and the water “protected” their delicate structure

Figure 16.9
Objective: Describe the
prebiotic evolution
 15.2 SCIENTIFIC THINKING: THINKING:
Experiments show that the abiotic synthesis of
organic molecules is possible

• In the 1920s, the Russian chemist A. I. Oparin and the British

scientist J. B. S. Haldane independently proposed that
conditions on early Earth could have generated organic
molecules.

• Our modern atmosphere is rich in O2, which disrupts chemical

bonds.
• The early Earth likely had a reducing atmosphere.
 Prebiotic Evolution
• First cell
• 4 steps
- Abiotic synthesis of monomers
- Abiotic synthesis of polymers
- Packaging into protobionts/protocells
- Self-replicating molecules
Monomers Evolve

Oparin/Haldane

Miller /Urey
Objective: Describe Miller-
Urey experiment
 15.2 SCIENTIFIC THINKING: Experiments show that the abiotic
synthesis of organic molecules is possible

• In 1953, graduate student Stanley Miller, working under Harold

Urey, tested the Oparin-Haldane hypothesis.

•Miller identified a variety

of organic molecules that are
common in organisms,
including hydrocarbons and
some of the amino acids that
make up proteins.
• Hypotheses about the origins of life include
• deep-sea environments near submerged volcanoes or
hydrothermal vents or
• meteorites as sources of organic molecules.
 Chemical conditions of the early Earth
● 1950s – Miller and Urey made a
“reducing atmosphere” of H2O,
H2, NH3, CH4 in a spark
chamber
● after sparking, they found that
amino acids and other organic
compounds had formed
● designed to mimic what was
thought at the time to have been
Earth’s early atmosphere
• Miller & Urey’s Experiment
Fig. 4.7
 Time to think……
Look to you neighbor and discuss the following:

We have discussed the formation of organic molecules.

Now, what is wrong with the Miller-Urey experiment?

More on Miller & his experiment:

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/2011/03/21/sci
entists-finish-a-53-year-old-classic-experiment-on-the-origins-of-life/#.VE2HYSieKdw
 Variations of Miller-Urey
Experiment
• Different mixes of gases to represent atmosphere
• Different energy sources, like UV (sunlight)
• Results: ALL PRODUCE AMINO ACIDS AND
COMPLEX ORGANIC MOLECULES
• Not as much as original experiment
• MUST be more sources of organic material
Origin of
the First
Cell(s)
 15.3 Stages in the origin of the first cells
probably included the formation of polymers,
protocells, and self-replicating RNA

• STEP 1: The abiotic synthesis of small organic molecules

would have been the next step in the origin of life.
• STEP 2: Before enzymes, hot sand, clay, or rock may have
helped monomers combine to form polymers.
• Waves may have splashed organic molecules onto fresh lava or
other hot rocks and then rinsed polypeptides and other polymers
back into the sea.
 STEP 3: Protocell Evolves
• Protocells:
• A primitive cell-like structure that has some properties of
life and that might have been precursors of cells.

• Made up of only 2 molecular components: RNA replicase

& a fatty acid membrane

• A structure with a lipid-protein membrane that carries on

energy metabolism
­ Semipermeable-type boundary may form around coacervate
droplets
­ Liposomes form spontaneously in liquid environments

­ Extremely simple version of a cell.

35
• STEP 3: Laboratory experiments demonstrate that
small membrane-bounded sacs or vesicles form
when lipids are mixed with water.

Microscopic vesicle with membranes made of lipids “giving birth” to smaller

vesicle
Formation of protocells

• Key step in origin of life would have been membrane-

enclosed compartment.
• 3. Experiments on lipids and proteins mixing in water
• Clay is added
• Grow and reproduce
• Early earth protocells
 how the first cells could have originated
and functioned
● protobionts have been produced that resemble living cells
● microspheres, a type of protobiont, form spontaneously when liquid water is added
to abiotically produced polypeptides
● microspheres can grow, divide, and maintain internal chemistry different from their
surroundings
● protobionts show that some spontaneous production and maintenance of
organization is possible, but are incomplete as a model for formation of the first
cells
 A Protocell Evolves

• If the protocell evolved at hydrothermal vents, it

would be chemosynthetic and autotrophs would have
preceded heterotrophs.(ex. Chemosynthetic bacteria)
• As there was no free O2, it is assumed that protocells
carried on a form of fermentation.
• First protocells had limited ability to break down
organic molecules; it took millions of years for
glycolysis to evolve.

41
 Chemical Evolution
at Hydrothermal Vents

42
 Heterotrophic
Prokaryotes formed

• If a protocell was a heterotrophic fermenter living on the

organic molecules in the organic soup that was its
environment; this suggests heterotrophs preceded
autotrophs.
• A heterotroph is an organism that cannot synthesize
organic compounds from inorganic substances and therefore
must take in preformed organic compounds. (ex. pathogenic
bacteria)
• An autotroph is an organism that makes organic molecules
from inorganic nutrients. (ex. photosynthetic bacteria)

43
 Autotrophophic Prokaryotes formed

• As a result of mutation, a heterotroph gained the

ability to produce its own food
• As an AUTOTROPH, this cell would be highly
successful.

44
 Oxygen & Ozone Layer formed
• As a by-product of the photosynthetic activity of
autotrophs, oxygen was released and accumulated in the
atmosphere. The interaction of UV light and oxygen
produced the ozone layer.
• As a result of the formation of the ozone layer,
incoming UV light was absorbed, preventing it from
reaching the surface of the earth. Thus, the major
source of energy for the abiotic synthesis of organic
molecules and primitive cells was terminated.

45
 Eukaryotes Formed

• Endosymbiotic Theory
• Eukaryotic cells originated from a mutually
beneficial association (symbiosis) among
various kinds of prokaryotes.
• Mitochondria, chloroplasts, and other
organelles established residence inside
another prokaryote, producing a eukaryote .

46
 Endosymbiotic Theory

• Evidence for Endosymbiotic Theory

1) Mitochondria & Chloroplasts contain their own DNA.
2) Ribosomes of Mito & Chloro resemble those of bacteria.
3) Mito & Chloro reproduce independently (similar to binary
fission)
4) Thylakoid membrane of chloroplasts similar to the
membranes of photosynthetic cyanobacteria.

47
 STEP 4
• Today’s cell
• Store genetic information as DNA
• Transcribe information into RNA then
translate RNA messages into proteins.
• DNA🡪RNA🡪protein
• More than likely it has emerged gradually
through a series of much simpler processes.
 Self-Replicating RNA
(What were the first genes like?)
• One hypothesis is that they were short strands of self-
replicating RNA.
• Experiments show that short RNA molecules can
assemble spontaneously from nucleotide monomers.
• In early earth:
• i) RNA monomers adhere to clay particles and become
conc.
• ii) some monomers spontaneously join, forming the first
sm. genes
• iii) then an RNA chain complementary to one of these
genes assembles
• The origin of self-replicating molecules
• RNA molecules can assemble spontaneously from RNA monomers.
• When RNA is added to a solution containing a supply of RNA
monomers, new RNA molecules complementary to parts of the starting
RNA sometimes assemble.
• Some RNA molecules, called ribozymes, can carry out enzyme-like
functions, supporting this hypothesis.
THE RNA WORLD
HYPOTHESIS
• 5. Laboratory experiments have demonstrated that
RNA sequences can evolve in abiotic conditions.
• RNA molecules have both a genotype and a
phenotype w/c interacts with surrounding molecules.
• Under particular conditions, some RNA sequences
are more stable and replicate faster and with fewer
errors than other sequences.
• Occasional copying errors create mutations
 SELF REPLICATING RNA
● genetic reproduction was crucial in the
origin of true life
● RNA likely was first (RNA world
hypothesis)
● RNA can catalyze a variety of
reactions, including some self-
catalytic reactions
● RNA can also store genetic
information
● in vitro evolution of RNA has
shown that the RNA world
hypothesis is feasible – selection can
act on self-replicating RNA
molecules in vitro
● DNA likely came later and had the
selective advantage of greater stability
• The precursors of early life are known as
Protobionts/Protocells.
• a. Protobionts form spontaneously in lab experiments from
mixtures of organic molecules.
• b. They contain RNA that codes for metabolic proteins.
These protobionts absorb food and the proteins catalyze it
to make energy which can be used for growth and division
to daughter cells.
• c. Natural selection would favor protobionts that grow and
replicate. When the organic molecules in the earth’s water
bodies were gone, the protobionts would “evolve” to either
obtain energy by photosynthesis or predation.
• 🡪 It would only take the creation and evolution of one (1)
protobiont to give rise to the all the different organisms we
see today.
 MAJOR EVENTS IN THE
HISTORY OF LIFE

© 2015 Pearson Education, Inc.

 15.4 The origins of single-celled and
multicellular organisms and the colonization of
land were key events in life’s history
• Macroevolution is the broad pattern of changes in life on
Earth.
• The entire 4.6 billion years of Earth’s history can be divided
into three eons of geologic time.
• The Archaean and Proterozoic eons lasted about 4 billion years.
• The Phanerozoic eon includes the last half billion years.
 15.4 The origins of single-celled and multicellular
organisms and the colonization of land were key
events in life’s history

http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/selection/time/
 15.4 The origins of single-celled and multicellular
organisms and the colonization of land were key events in
life’s history

• Prokaryotes lived alone on Earth for 1.5 billion years, from 3.5
to 2 billion years ago.
• During this time, prokaryotes transformed the atmosphere.
• Prokaryotic photosynthesis produced oxygen that enriched the
water and atmosphere of Earth.
• Aerobic cellular respiration allowed prokaryotes to flourish.
❑ The oldest fossils of eukaryotes are about 1.8 billion years old.

❑
❑ - Symbiotic community of prokaryotes living within larger prokaryotes. 🡪
Mitochondria and chloroplasts

❑ The common ancestor of all multicellular eukaryotes lived about 1.5 billion
years ago.

❑ The oldest fossils of multicellular eukaryotes are about 1.2 billion years old.

❑ The first multicellular plants and fungi began to colonize land about 500
million years ago.
Eukaryotic cells descended from
prokaryotic cells
● eukaryotes first appear in
the fossil record about 2
bya, long after prokaryotic
cells
● DNA sequencing provides
evidence of common
ancestry of all life on Earth,
with eukaryotes splitting
from Archaea about 2 bya
● recall the endosymbiotic
theory – model for how at
least some of the eukaryotic
cell organelles came to exist
Endosymbiosis theory (Lynn Margulis, 1970’s)
Banded iron formations are evidence of the age of oxygenic photosynthesis –
approximately 2 BYA in photo
The oldest animal fossils are ~700 million
years old.

a. Animal diversity exploded ~540 million

years ago.
• Humans diverged from other primates about 6
to 7 million years ago.
• Our species, Homo sapiens, originated about
195,000 years ago.
• If the clock of Earth’s history were rescaled to
represent an hour, humans appeared less than
0.2 second ago!
Fossilized animal embryos from Chinese sediments 570 million years ago.
This 4.5 billion-year-old rock, labeled meteorite ALH84001, is believed to have once been
a part of Mars and to contain fossil evidence that primitive life may have existed on Mars
more than 3.6 billion years ago. The rock is a portion of a meteorite that was dislodged
from Mars by a huge impact about 16 million years ago and that fell to Earth in Antarctica
13,000 years ago. The meteorite was found in Allan Hills ice field, Antarctica, by an annual
expedition of the National Science Foundation's Antarctic Meteorite Program in 1984. It is
preserved at the Johnson Space Center's Meteorite Processing Laboratory in Houston.
 15.6 The fossil record documents the
history of life

• The geologic record is based on the sequence and ages of

fossils in the rock strata.
• The most recent Phanerozoic eon
• includes the past 542 million years and
• is divided into three eras:
• Paleozoic,
• Mesozoic, and
• Cenozoic.

• The boundaries between eras are marked by mass extinctions.

Table 15.6-0
Clock analogy for
some key events in
evolutionary
history
 History of Life on Earth
● basis for the divisions
● divisions of geological time are based on major
changes in types of organisms found in the fossil
record
● each division has its own characteristic set of commonly
found fossils and unique fossil forms
● many of the transitions between the divisions are
marked by major extinction events
● times when many organisms died out over a relatively short
period of time
● determined because they disappear form the fossil record
from that point on
 History of Life on Earth
● there are many major extinction events in the fossil
record
● by most measures five stand out above the rest
● you need to know these “big five” mass extinction events
Precambrian time
● from 4.6 bya up to 542 million years ago
(mya); the fossil record is very spotty
prior to 542 mya
Precambrian time
● from 4.6 bya up to 542 million years
ago (mya); the fossil record is very
spotty prior to 542 mya
● we have already covered some of the
major events of that time period (origin of
life, oxygenation of the oceans and
atmosphere)
● Snowball Earth??? 800 mya – 635 mya
● ended with the Ediacaran Period (635-
542 mya), which is widely recognized as
having the oldest animal fossils
Paleozoic era (542-251 mya)
● Cambrian period
(542-488 mya)
● Cambrian explosion
- fossils of
multicellular
organisms are
abundant in this
period
● all contemporary
animal phyla are
represented in
Cambrian fossils, as
well as many extinct
groups
● this is the biggest
expansion in diversity
found in the fossil
record Burgess shale – most famous
example
http://www.burgess-shale.bc.ca/
 Paleozoic era (542-251 mya)
● Ordovician period (488-444 mya) –

● abundant numbers and diversification of:

● trilobites

● brachiopods

● molluscs

● first coral reefs

● first terrestrial plants

 Paleozoic era (542-251 mya)
● Ordovician period ended in a mass extinction event (1st of
the big five)
● likely due to an ice age, perhaps in conjunction with a
gamma ray burst
● decimated the trilobites and brachiopods, along with many
other groups of marine organisms
 Paleozoic era (542-251 mya)
● Silurian period (444-416 mya) – first
vascular plants; first true terrestrial animals

Cooksonia, ~420 mya

Paleozoic era (542-251 mya)
● Carboniferous period (359-299 mya)
● reptiles first appear
● amphibians diversify and are the dominant
terrestrial carnivores (Age of Amphibians)
● most of today’s major coal deposits are the
remains of organisms that lived in this period
Paleozoic era (542-251 mya)
● Permian period (299-251 mya) –
by the end of this period, the
continents have merged as the
Pangaea supercontinent
Paleozoic era (542-251 mya)
● Permian period (and Paleozoic era)
ended (251 mya) with a mass
extinction event (3rd of the big
five)
● the largest mass extinction on record
(as much as 95% or more of all
species)
● more than 90% of the marine species
and 70% of land vertebrates vanish
● apparently took place in a time span of
only a few hundred thousand years,
which is fast in the geological time
scale
 Mesozoic era (251-65 mya)
● diversification and dominance by reptiles – the
whole era is often called the Age of Reptiles
(sometime called the Age of Dinosaurs, but many
non-dinosaur reptiles were also prominent)
Cenozoic era (65 mya – present)
● usually called the Age of
Mammals, but:
● birds,

● insects,

● and flowering plants

have also undergone massive

diversification and have all
achieved some measure of
“dominance” in the biosphere
during this era
Cenozoic era (65 mya – present)
● the Neogene has been marked by:
● many ice ages
● the rise of humans
● and mass extinctions
● most of these mass extinctions may
have been caused by the ice age climate,
humans, or both
● the current mass extinction event (we
are in one now, the sixth extinction ) is
mostly caused by humans
Some major
episodes in the
history of life.
Early and modern prokaryotes
 First life, however it came to be

● the first evidence of life in

the fossil record are
isotopic carbon
“fingerprints” in rocks
from ~3.8 bya

● the first evidence of cells

are microfossils of
prokaryotic cells in fossils
of stromatolites dated to
~3.5 bya
Fossilized evidence of bacteria

• Stromatolites
● are rocklike structures made
up of layers of bacteria and
sediment
• Prokaryotic mats.
• Top layers
• Lower layers
• in some areas stromatolites
are still being formed today
Bacterial mats and Stromatolites
 15.5 The actual ages of rocks and fossils mark
geologic time

• Some elements are radioactive and steadily break

down into nonradioactive elements.

• Radiometric dating is based on the decay of

radioactive isotopes.

• The rate of decay is expressed as a half-life, the time

required for 50% of the isotope in a sample to decay.
In radioactive
dating,
scientists
calculate the
age of a
sample based
on the amount
of remaining
radioactive
isotopes it
contains.
• Carbon-14 is useful for dating relatively young fossils—up to about
75,000 years old. Radioactive isotopes with longer half-lives are used
to date older fossils.
 15.5 The actual ages of rocks and fossils mark geologic
time
• Relative dating: A fossil’s age can be inferred from the ages of the
rock layers above and below the stratum in which it is found.
• Other evidence in
metamorphic rocks
• Low C12/C13 fraction in
rock layers
• Biological processes prefer C12
to C13
• Find lower fraction of C13
• Non-biological processes
have no preference
• Rocks before ~4 billion years old are rare and
hard to find
• When did heavy bombardment ended?
• Last devastating impact between 4.2-3.9 BYA

• How old did life arose?

 Living Fossils
• How is DNA used?
• living fossil

• Similarities and differences

• Bacteria, Archae & Eukarya
 Where did life begin?
• Land is unlikely
• Why?
• Shallow ponds
• Possible or not likely?
• Deep-sea vents/hot springs
 How did life begin?
• Simplest organisms today and those dated 3.5 billion
years ago are remarkably advanced
• What are the natural chemical processes that could
have led to life?
• Assumptions
• Life began under chemical conditions of early
Earth
• Life did not migrate to Earth
 How did life arose?
• Ancient Greek in 1600’s
• Spontaneous generation
• 1668 Francesco Redi
• Mid 1800’s Louis Pasteur
Quiz