Keywords
Emergence and complexity, heterotrophic hypothesis, Oparin–Haldane, origin of life, prebiotic evolution, primordial autotrophy, spontaneous generation
Definition
In evolutionary biology, the phrase “origin of life” refers to the first appearance of living entities. If the emergence of the biosphere is seen as the evolutionary transition between the nonliving and the living, then it may be meaningless to attempt to draw a strict line between these two worlds, and the appearance of life on Earth may therefore be better envisioned as a continuum that seamlessly joins the prebiotic synthesis and accumulation of organic molecules in the primitive environment with the emergence of self-sustaining, replicative chemical systems capable of undergoing Darwinian evolution.
Overview
The term “origin of life” has several possible meanings, but from the perspective of contemporary biology and...
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References and Further Reading
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Lazcano, A. (2011). Origin of Life. In: Gargaud, M., et al. Encyclopedia of Astrobiology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-11274-4_1128
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