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Darwin’s warm little pond revisited: from molecules to the origin of life

Naturwissenschaften volume 96, pages 1265–1292 (2009)Cite this article

Abstract

All known cosmic and geological conditions and laws of chemistry and thermodynamics allow that complex organic matter could have formed spontaneously on pristine planet Earth about 4,000 mya. Simple gasses and minerals on the surface and in oceans of the early Earth reacted and were eventually organized in supramolecular aggregates and enveloped cells that evolved into primitive forms of life. Chemical evolution, which preceded all species of extant organisms, is a fact. In this review, we have concentrated on experimental and theoretical research published over the last two decades, which has added a wealth of new details and helped to close gaps in our previous understanding of this multifaceted field. Recent exciting progress in the molecular and genetic analyses of existing life, in particular microorganisms of ancient origin, even supports the possibility that a cellular, self-reproducing common ancestor might be assembled and resurrected in anaerobic cultures at some time in the future. Charles Darwin did not, and indeed, could not, address and specify the earliest phases of life which preceded the Origin of Species. However, in a famous letter, he sketched “a warm little pond with all sorts of… (chemicals, in which) …a protein was chemically formed.” We try to trace the impact of his charming clear-sighted metaphor up to the present time.

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Acknowledgements

Vivid discussions with colleagues and friends, in particular Horst-Dieter Försterling, Peter Kaiser, Hans Kuhn, Ulrich Kutschera, Stanley Miller (deceased; La Jolla, CA, USA), Klaus-Heinrich Röhm, and Günter Wächtershäuser are greatly appreciated. The students attending summer academies on evolution at La Villa and Alpbach (Tyrol), sponsored by Studienstiftung, contributed many critical questions and stimulating ideas.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Biology, University of Kassel, 34109, Kassel, Germany

    Hartmut Follmann

  2. Westferry Road, London, UK

    Carol Brownson

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  1. Hartmut Follmann
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  2. Carol Brownson
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Correspondence to Hartmut Follmann.

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This contribution is part of the Special Issue “Beyond the Origin: Charles Darwin and modern biology”. Guest editor: U. Kutschera (see Kutschera 2009).

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Follmann, H., Brownson, C. Darwin’s warm little pond revisited: from molecules to the origin of life. Naturwissenschaften 96, 1265–1292 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-009-0602-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-009-0602-1

Keywords

  • Charles Darwin
  • Chemical evolution
  • DNA and RNA
  • Iron–sulphur world
  • Last universal ancestor
  • Organic soups
  • Origin of life
  • Thermodynamics