Origin of Life

This volume is a record of the 6th International Conference on the Origins of Life and the 3rd Meeting of the International Society for the Study of the Origins of Life. The conference was held under the auspices of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities at Jerusalem from June 22nd to June 27th 1980. A few weeks prior to the conference, Academician Aleksander Ivanovich Oparin passed away. Oparin, the father and founder of the study of the origins of life, proposed over 50 years ago that modern biological molecules had abidogical origins in the past, thus the beginning of life on Earth was preceded by a long period of abiogenic molecular evolution. Oparin was planning to report on his latest work in the opening session of the meeting - "Natural Selection: A Leading Factor in Transition from the Non-Living Matter to Life". This lecture will never be delivered. In Hebrew we say of those who have died "may their memory be bound with the bonds of eternal life". For Aleksander Ivanovich Oparin those words have particular significance, for surely his pioneering work will endure as long as the spirit of scientific enquiry prevails. This meeting was dedicated to the memory of Aleksander Ivanovich Oparin.

Interstellar Molecules and the Origin of Life.- Molecules in Interstellar Clouds.- On the Origin of Organic Molecules in Interstellar Space and Some of its Consequences.- Comets and the Origin of Life.- Nature and Origin of Organic Molecules in Comets.- Liquid Water on a Planet over Cosmic Periods.- Organic Analysis of the Antarctic Carbonaceous Chondrites.- Nitrogen Compounds in Carbonaceous Meteorites: A Reassessment.- Abiotic Organic Synthesis in Space.- Formation of Prebiotic Precursors from Model Reducing Atmospheres: Role of Hydrogen Escape.- Organic Chemical Evolution of Reducing Model of the Atmosphere of the Primitive Earth. Role of UV Light and Electric Discharges.- Far UV Photolysis of Methane-Water Gaseous Mixtures and the Prebiotic Synthesis of Aldehydes.- Photolysis of CH4-NH3 Mixtures and PH3 as Models for the Photochemical Transformations on the Primitive Earth and Jupiter.- Possible Role of Phosphine in Chemical Evolution.- Clays as Prebiotic Photocatalysts.- Clay-Mediated Reactions of HCN Oligomers. The Effect of the Oxidation State of the Clay.- Chemical Evolution and Plate Tectonics.- The Strecker Synthesis in the Primitive Ocean.- Photoassisted Carbon Dioxide Reduction and Formation of Two- and Three-Carbon Compounds.- Melanoidin Polymers as Possible Oxygen Sinks in the Pre-biotic Oceans.- Formation of Energy Rich Phosphate in Fenton’s Reaction.- Abiotic Synthesis of Phosphoric Esters of Monosaccharides According to the “Cold Model”.- Synthesis and Degradation of Amino Acids by Contact Glow Discharge Electrolysis, a Possible Route for Prebiotic Formation of Bio-organic Compounds.- Genesis of Amino Acids in the Primeval Sea: Formation of Amino Acids from Sugars and Ammonia in a Modified Sea Medium.- Porphyrin-Like Compounds Genesis under Simulated Abiotic Conditions.- The Role of Analytical Procedures in the Formation of Biochemicals from Experiments Simulating the Chemical Evolution of Primeval Earth.- Reduction of Thionucleosides: A Prebiotic Pathway to Deoxyribonucleosides.- Factors Influencing the Rate of Non-Enzymatic Activation of Carboxylic and Amino Acids by ATP.- HCN Oligomerization - Isolation and Preliminary Characterization of a New Precursor of Adenine.- Cyanamide Mediated Syntheses of LEU, ALA and PHE Peptides under Plausible Primitive Earth Conditions.- Template-Directed Synthesis of Oligoguanylic Acids - Metal Ion Catalysis.- Chemical Evolution of Model Systems of Primeval Earth Periphery and Thermal Polymerization of Aqueous Solutions of Cyanides.- The Polymerization Products of ?-aminopropionitrile. The Component Separation Using Cation-Exchange Resin.- The Cold Theory of the Origins of Life. Assumptions for the Theory and Experimental Evidence.- The Appearance of Protobiopolymers and Protomembranes in Accordance with the “Cold Theory” of the Origins of Life.- Terrestrial Evolution of Polymerization of Amino Acids: Heat to ATP.- Potentiometric Titration Behavior of Polyamino Acids Prepared by Thermal Polycondensation.- On the Polycondensation of Amino Acid Adenylates on Montmorillonites.- Polymerization of Serine Guanylate in the Presence of Montmorillonite.- Quantum Mechanical Conformational Analysis of Aminoacyladenylates: Implication in the Origin of Life.- Environmental Conditions for the Formation of Marigranules and Kinetic Studies on the Formation.- Membrane Lipids and the Origin of Life.- Resolution of Underivatized Amino Acids by High Pressure Liquid Chromatography, Using Chiral Eluants.- Stereoselective Interactions of Small Biological Molecules.- Possible Selective Adsorption of Enantiomers by Na-Montmorrillonite.- Spontaneous and Induced Generation of Optical Activity in Racemic 4,4?-Dimethyl-1,1?-Binaphthyl.- Amplification of Optical Activity by Crystallization in the Presence of Tailor-Made Additives. The “Inversion Rule”.- Generation and Amplification of Optically Active Compounds via Inclusion in Chiral Tri-o-thymotide Clathrates.- Asymetrical Radical Formation in ?-Irradiated D- and L-Alanines.- A New Experiment to Investigate the Origin of Optical Activity Using a Low Energy Positron Beam of Controlled Helicity.- Competition, Coexistence and Irreversibility in Models of Early Molecular Evolution.- Histidyl-Histidine Catalysis of Glycine Condensation in Fluctuating Clay Environments.- A Theory for the Origin of a Self-Reproducing Chemical System by Natural Selection from Short, Random Oligomers.- A Mathematical Method for the Enumeration of Doublet Codes.- Evolving Nucleotide Binding Surfaces.- Origin and Evolution of the Genetic Code.- The Origin and Evolution of the Genetic Code.- Evolutionary Processes of the Genetic Code.- Summary of Evidence for an Anticodonic Basis for the Origin of the Genetic Code.- Primitive Transfer RNA and Origin of Darwinian System.- Evolution of the Terrestrial Atmosphere and its Fossils in Biosystems.- Organic Geochemistry of the ISUA Supracrustals.- Secondary Structures of Polypeptides as Evolutionary “Growing Points”.- Search for Primitive Replicative Properties on Early Polypeptides.- Emergence of Flavin Catalysis. An Approach Based on the Concept of Bioorganic Evolution.- Selective Acylability of Amino Acids by Non-Enzymic Model Reactions of Biochemical Transacylations.- Experiments on Transfer of Organic Molecular Information into Crystal Lattice Superstructures.- Phylogenetic Sequence of Metabolic Pathways in Precambrian Cellular Life.- Coupling to Solar Energy: Sensitized Photoreactions - The Primary Source of Self-Organization.- Ultraviolet Selection Pressure in the Prephanerozoic.- DNA-Protein Complex from an Extreme Halophile: A Histone-Like Protein in Archaebacteria.- The Evolution of Blue-Greens and the Origins of Chloroplasts.- Evolution of the Rhodospirillaceae and Mitochondria: A View Based on Sequence Data.- On the Origin of Photosynthetic Eukaryotic Cells: Cyanidium Caldarium as a “Bridge” Alga Between Prokaryotic Cyanobacteria and Eukaryotic Rhodophytes: Evidence from Environmental, Polysaccharide Biochemistry and Ultrastructural Studies.- Microbial Life in Cold Saline Environments.- Mutagens and Carcinogens: Occurence and Role During Chemical and Biological Evolution.- Could the Biochemical Metabolism be Different?.- Author Index.