Cosmochemical Evolution and the Origins of Life de J. Oró

Cosmochemical Evolution and the Origins of Life: Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference on the Origin of Life and the First Meeting of the International Society for the Study of the Origin of Life, Barcelona, June 25–28, 1973, Volume I: Invited Papers and Volume II: Contributed Papers

J. Oró

S. L. Miller

C. Ponnamperuma

R. S. Young

This publication, in two volumes, includes most of the scientific papers presented at the first meeting of the International Society for the Study of the Origin of Life (lSSOL), held on June 25-28, 1973 in Barcelona, Spain. The first volume contains the invited articles and the second volume the contributed papers, which also appear in the 1974 and 1975 issues, respectively, of the new journal Origins of Life, published by D. Reidel. A relatively large number of meetings on the subject of the origin of life have been held in different places since 1957. In terms of its organization, scope, and number and nationality of participants, the Conference celebrated last year in Barcelona closely followed the three international conferences held earlier in Moscow, U.S.S.R., 1957, Wakulla Springs, U.S.A., 1963, and Pont-a-Mousson, France, 1970. For this reason the first ISSOL meeting was also named the 4th International Conference on the Origin of Life.

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Cuprins

I/Cosmochemistry.- Fitness in the Universe: Choices and Necessities.- Galactic Clouds of Organic Molecules.- The Outer Solar System: Perspectives for Exobiology.- Catalytic Reactions in the Solar Nebula: Implications for Interstellar Molecules and Organic Compounds in Meteorites.- II/Paleobiology.- Natural Evidence for Chemical and Early Biological Evolution.- Aspects of the Geologic History of Seawater.- Homeostatic Tendencies of the Earth’s Atmosphere.- Microfossils from the Middle Precambrian McArthur Group, Northern Territory, Australia.- The Development and Diversification of Precambrian Life.- III/Primordial Organic Chemistry.- The Atmosphere of the Primitive Earth and the Prebiotic Synthesis of Amino Acids.- Biomolecules from HCN.- The Prebiotic Synthesis of Oligonucleotides.- The Possible Role of Clays in Prebiotic Peptide Synthesis.- Interactions Between Amino Acids and Nucleotides in the Prebiotic Milieu.- Coacervate Systems and Origin of Life.- Transfer RNA and the Translation Apparatus in the Origin of Life.- IV/Precellular Organization.- A Hypothetic Scheme for Evolution of Probionts.- From Proteinoid Microsphere to Contemporary Cell: Formation of Internucleotide and Peptide Bonds by Proteinoid Particles.- Chemical and Catalytical Properties of Thermal Polymers of Amino Acids (Proteinoids).- Pre-Enzymic Origin of Metabolic Redox Processes and of the Energy Storage Processes.- Experimental Attempts for the Study of the Origin of Optical Activity on Earth.- Life’s Beginnings — Origin or Evolution?.- V/Early Biochemical Evolution.- On the Chemical Constitution of Cometary Nuclei.- Photochemical Conversions of Lower Aldehydes in Aqueous Solutions and in Fog.- Inferences from Protein and Nucleic Acid Sequences: Early Molecular Evolution, Divergence ofKingdoms and Rates of Change.- On the Possible Origin and Evolution of the Genetic Code.- Genetics and the Origin of the Genetic Code.- Origin of the Genetic Code: A Physical-Chemical Model of Primitive Codon Assignments.- The Iron-Sulphur Proteins: Evolution of a Ubiquitous Protein from Model Systems to Higher Organisms.- A New Hypothesis for the Evolution of Biological Electron Transport.- Pathways of Chemical Evolution of Photosynthesis.- Inorganic Types of Fermentation and Anaerobic Respirations in the Evolution of Energy-Yielding Metabolism.- VI/Exobiology.- Test Results on the Viking Gas Chromatograph-Mass Spectrometer Experiment.- Automated Life-Detection Experiments for the Viking Mission to Mars.- Organic Contamination Problems in the Viking Molecular Analysis Experiment.- Model Systems for Life Processes on Mars.- An Automatically-Returned Martian Sample by 1985?.- Life on Jupiter?.- The Possibility of Organic Molecule Formation in the Venus Atmosphere.- Planetary Systems and Extraterrestrial Life.- The Origin of Life in a Cosmic Context.- List of Participants.- Index of Subjects.