LIFE IN THE UNIVERSE Cellular Origin and Life in Extreme Habitats and Astrobiology Volume 7 Series Editor: Joseph Seckbach Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel Life in the Universe From the Miller Experiment to the Search for Life on other Worlds Edited by Joseph Seckbach Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel Julian Chela-Flores The Abdus Salam International Center for Theoretical Physics, Trieste, Italy and Instituto de Estudios Avanzados (IDEA), Caracas, Venezuela Tobias Owen Institute for Astronomy, Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.A. and François Raulin LISA, Universités Paris 12 & Paris 7, Faculté des Sciences et Technologie, France SPRINGER SCIENCE-BUSINESS MEDIA, B.V. A C.I.P. Catalogue record for this book is available from the Library of Congress. ISBN 978-1-4020-3093-2 ISBN 978-94-007-1003-0 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-94-007-1003-0 Cover artwork by Malte Reimold, von Kiedrowski laboratory, Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany. Printed on acid-free paper All Rights Reserved © 2004 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht Originally published by Kluwer Academic Publishers in 2004 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2004 No part of this work may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording or otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher, with the exception of any material supplied specifically for the purpose of being entered and executed on a computer system, for exclusive use by the purchaser of the work. DEDICATION This book is dedicated to Professor Stanley L. Miller in honor of his 50th jubilee experimentsintheprebioticoriginoflife. Professor Stanley Miller with the editor Joseph Seckbach during the Trieste-2003 conferenceonLifeintheUniverse. TABLEOFCONTENTS Dedication................................................................................. v Biodataofeditors......................................................................... xv Prefacebytheeditors..................................................................... xxi Acknowledgements.......................................................................xxiii GroupphotographandListofAttendees.................................................xxiv I. Opening IntroductiontoLifeintheUniverse...................................................... 3 T.Johnson TheAbdusSalamLecture................................................................ 7 H.Baltscheffsky TheBeginningofChemicalEvolutionExperiments..................................... 9 S.Miller,J.L.BadaandA.Lazcano AnOverviewofCosmicEvolution....................................................... 17 GeorgeV.Coyne PhysicalPhenomenaunderlyingtheOriginofLife...................................... 27 JuanPe´rez-Mercader II. WheredidtheChemicalElementsComeFromandWhendidLifeBegin? TheOriginofBiogenicElements......................................................... 55 F.MatteucciandC.Chiappini ThermochemistryoftheDarkAge....................................................... 59 D.Puy SearchingforOldestLifeonEarth:AProgressReport................................. 63 S.MoorbathandB.S.Kamber TheEuropeanExo/AstrobiologyNetworkAssociation................................. 67 AndreBrack III. PhysicalConstraintsontheOriginofLife TheOriginofBiomolecularChirality.................................................... 73 J.RiveraIslas,J.C.MicheauandT.Buhse vii viii SalamHypothesisandTheRoleafPhaseTransitioninAminoAcids.................. 79 W.Wang,N.Yao,Y.ChenandP.Lai AMechanismforthePrebioticEmergenceofProteins................................. 83 H.P.DeVladar,R.Cipriani,B.ScharifkerandJ.Bubis Functional,Self-ReferentialGeneticCoding............................................ 89 R.C.Guimara˜esandC.H.C.Moreira ImportanceofBiasedSynthesisinChemicalEvolutionStudies........................ 93 A.Negron-Mendoza,S.Ramos-BernalandF.G.Mosqueira WhenDidInformationFirstAppearintheUniverse.................................... 97 J.G.Roederer IV. FromtheMillerExperimenttoChemicalandBiologicalEvolution PrebioticOrganicSynthesisandtheEmergenceofLife................................. 103 L.Delaye,A.Becerra,A.M.Velasco,S.IslasandA.Lazcano OriginandEvolutionofVeryEarlySequenceMotifsinEnzymes...................... 107 H.Baltscheffsky,B.Persson,A.Schultz,J.R.Pe´rez-Castin˜eiraand M.Baltscheffsky TheLipidWorld:FromCatalyticandInformationalHeadgroupsto MicelleReplicationandEvolutionwithoutNucleicAcids.............................. 111 A.Bar-Even,B.Shenhav,R.KafriandD.Lancet CoenzymesinEvolutionoftheRnaWorld.............................................. 115 M.S.Kritsky,T.A.Telegina,T.A.LyudnikovaandYu.L.Zemskova TheRoleofHeatintheOriginofLife................................................... 119 P.R.Bahn,A.PappelisandR.Grubbs APossiblePathwayfortheTransferofChiralBiasfromExtraterrestrial C(cid:2)-Tetrasubstituted(cid:2)-AminoAcidstoProteinogenicAminoAcids................... 121 M.Crisma,A.Moretto,F.Formaggio,B.Kaptein,Q.B.Broxtermanand C.Toniolo PrebioticPolymerizationofAminoAcids.AMakovChainApproach................. 123 F.G.Mosqueira,S.Ramos-BernalandA.Negron-Mendoza TheElectrochemicalReductionofCo toFormateinHydrothermalSulfide 2 OreDepositasaNovelSourceofOrganicMatter....................................... 125 M.G.Vladimirov,Yu.F.Ryzhkov,V.A.Alekseev,V.A.Bogdanovskaya, V.A.OtroshchenkoandM.S.Kritsky ix TowardsaChronologicalOrderoftheAminoAcids.................................... 127 W.J.M.F.Collis OriginandEvolutionofMetabolicPathways............................................ 129 M.BrilliandR.Fani ConservedOligopeptidesintheRubiscoLargeChains................................. 133 P.B.Vidyasagar,P.ShilandS.Thomas OnTheQuestionofConvergentEvolutioninBiochemistry............................ 135 A.A.AkindahunsiandJ.Chela-Flores DiversityofMicrobialLifeonEarthandBeyond....................................... 139 J.Seckbach V. AlternativeScenariosfortheOriginandEvolutionofLife MineralSurfacesasaCradleofPrimordialGeneticMaterial........................... 145 E.Gallori,E.BiondiandM.Franchi AdsorptionandSelf-OrganizationofSmallMoleculesonInorganicSurfaces......... 149 D.G.Fraser StudiesonCopperChromicyanideasPrebioticCatalyst................................ 153 KamaluddinandS.R.Ali PhosphateImmobilizationbyPrimitiveCondensers.................................... 157 F.DeSouza-Barros,M.B.M.Monte,A.C.P.Duarte, J.A.P.Bonapace,M.R.D.AmaralJr.,R.B.Levigard, Y.A.Ching-SanJr.,C.S.CostaandA.Vieyra AdsorptionandCatalysisofNucleotideHydrolysisbyPyriteinMediaSimulating PrimevalAqueousEnvironments......................................................... 161 A.Vieyra,A.C.Tessis,M.Pontes-Buarque,J.A.P.Bonapace,M.Monte, H.S.DeAmorimandF.DeSouza-Barros VI. CosmologicalandOtherSpaceScienceAspectsofAstrobiology DustandPlanetFormationintheEarlyUniverse........................................ 167 G.Vladilo QuasarAbsorption-LineSystemsandAstrobiology..................................... 169 G.Vladilo ANewSearchforDysonSpheresintheMilkyWay.................................... 173 D.Minniti,F.Capponi,A.ValcarceandJ.Gallardo x SpaceWeatherandSpaceClimate........................................................ 177 M.Messerotti VII. PlanetaryExplorationinourSolarSystem:TheInterstellarMedium,Micro-Meteorites andComets SpontaneousGenerationofAminoAcidStructuresintheInterstellarMedium........ 183 U.J.Meierhenrich ExperimentalStudyoftheDegradationofComplexOrganicMolecules.Application totheOriginofExtendedSourcesinCometaryAtmospheres.......................... 187 N.Fray,Y.Benilan,H.Cottin,M.-C.GazeauandF.Raulin FateofGlycineDuringCollapseofInterstellarCloudsandStarFormation........... 191 S.K.Chakrabarti,S.ChakrabartiandK.Acharyya FormationofSimplestBio-MoleculesduringCollapseofanInterstellarCloud....... 195 K.Acharya,S.K.ChakrabartiandS.Chakrabarti ChemicalAbundancesofCometaryMeteoroidsfromMeteorSpectroscopy........... 201 J.M.Trigo-Rodr´ıguez,J.LlorcaandJ.Oro´ VIII. EarthAnaloguesofExtraterrestrialEcosystems ViableHalobacteriafromAncientOcea.................................................. 207 H.Stan-Lotter,C.Radax,S.Leuko,A.Legat,C.Gruber, M.Pfaffernhuemer,H.WielandandG.Weidler Mars-LikeSoilsintheYungayArea,theDriestCoreofthe AtacamaDesertinNorthernChile....................................................... 211 R.Navarro-Gonza´lez,F.A.Rainey,P.Molina,D.R.Bagaley, B.J.Hollen,J.DeLaRosa,A.M.Small,R.C.Quinn,F.J.Grunthaner, L.Ca´ceres,B.Gomez-Silva,A.Buch,R.Sternberg,P.Coll, F.RaulinandCh.P.McKay TheDiscoveryofOrganicsinSub-BasementFossilSoilsDrilledinthe NorthPacific(OdpLeg197):TheirModelFormationandImplicationsfor AstrobiologyResearch.................................................................... 217 R.BonaccorsiandR.L.Mancinelli Silica-CarbonateBiomorphsandtheImplicationsforIdentification ofMicrofossils............................................................................ 221 A.M.Carnerup,S.THyde,A-K.Larsson,A.G.ChristyandJ.M.Grac´ıa-Ruiz SomeStatisticalAspectsRelatedtotheStudyofTreelineinPicoDeOrizaba......... 223 L.Cruz-Kuri,C.P.McKayandR.Navarro-Gonzalez xi IX. OntheQuestionofLifeonMarsandontheEarlyEarth TheBeagle2LanderandtheSearchforTracesofLifeonMars....................... 227 A.Brack,C.T.PillingerandM.R.Sims MinimalUnitofTerraforminganAlternativeforRemodellingMars................... 233 H.O.PensadoD´ıaz EarlyArchaeanLife....................................................................... 239 F.Westall ExtraterrestrialImpactsonEarthandExtinctionofLifeintheHimalaya.............. 245 V.C.Tewari PalaeobiologyandBiosedimentologyoftheStromatoliticBuxaDolomite, RanjitWindow,Sikkim,NeLesserHimalaya,India.................................... 249 V.C.Tewari X. SearchingforExtraterrestrialLife,Europa,TitanandExtrasolarPlanets SearchingforExtraterrestrialLife........................................................ 253 T.Owen SearchforBacterialWasteasaPossibleSignatureofLifeonEuropa.................. 257 A.B.BhattacherjeeandJ.Chela-Flores SulfateVolumesandtheFitnessofSupcrt92forCalculating DeepOceanChemistry.................................................................... 261 S.Vance,E.ShockandT.Spohn TheCaseforLifeExistingOutsideofourBiosphere................................... 265 R.S.Gatta ApplicationofMolecularBiologyTechniquestoAstrobiology........................ 269 R.S.GattaandJ.Chela-Flores Titan....................................................................................... 275 F.Raulin,J-P.LebretonandT.Owen ChemicalCharacterizationofAerosolsinSimulatedPlanetaryAtmospheres......... 281 S.I.Ramirez,R.Navarro-Gonzalez,P.CollandF.Raulin Observation,ModelingandExperimentalSimulation:UnderstandingTitan’s AtmosphericChemistryUsingTheseThreeTools...................................... 287 J.-M.Bernard,P.Coll,C.D.Pintassilgo,Y.Benilan, A.Jolly,G.CernogoraandF.Raulin