Download Origin of Life

II Peter 3:3-5
3 Knowing this first, that there shall come in
the last days scoffers, walking after their
own lusts,
4 And saying, Where is the promise of his
coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all
things continue as they were from the
beginning of the creation.
5 For this they willingly are ignorant of, that
by the word of God the heavens were of
old, and the earth standing out of the water
and in the water:
©2000 Timothy G. Standish
Theories On
The Origin Of Life
Timothy G. Standish, Ph. D.
©2000 Timothy G. Standish
What Does “Evolution” Mean?
“Evolution” has at least three (3) distinct meanings:
 The fact of evolution - Organisms were different in the
past than they are today
– Fossil record
– Biblical record - God’s curse on Adam


Genesis 3:18 Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee: and thou
shalt eat the herb of the field:
The theory of evolution - Natural selection
– At least partially supported by population genetics accounting
for changes in allelic frequencies within populations

The doctrine of evolution - All that we see can be
accounted for by natural random events and thus a
Designer is not necessary.
©2000 Timothy G. Standish
Arguments for a Designer

Organisms look designed for at least three (3)
reasons:

Redundancy - A Designer can engineer redundancy into a
system, but chance is unlikely to do this. An example of this is the
presence of degeneracy in the genetic code and other features that
minimize or negate the effects of many point mutations.

Excess potential - Organisms have potential that may never be
used. For example, Wallace, co-discoverer of natural selection,
pointed out that primitive people have the capacity to do calculus
when trained. Natural selection is unlikely to select for capacity
that is not used.

Complexity - Life is so complex that it is improbable it came
about by chance.
©2000 Timothy G. Standish




The Likely and the Unlikely
In general arguments for a designer are arguments against the
alternative. This does not mean these are just arguments against
evolutionary theory. All arguments, by definition, are characterized
by taking one side while arguing against another side.
Arguments against a theory are about eliminating possible
explanations. There is nothing inferior about this, in fact, it is
deductive reasoning which is used by scientists all the time in their
quest for truth.
Arguments for a Designer generally revolve around probability.
Meaningful complexity is unlikely to result from random events.
Organisms are meaningfully complex. Some claim that natural
selection overcomes much of this problem as, while change may be
random, selection is not.
Science is about predicting what is likely and what is unlikely.
Everyone is in agreement that the events leading to production of
living organisms are unlikely.
©2000 Timothy G. Standish
What This Talk
Is Actually About
In this talk we will look at the mechanisms
proposed for the origin of living systems in the
absence of a designer.
 We will then look at one of the many biochemical
systems that must be in place in all organisms.
 Finally we will compare the information we have
on organisms at the molecular level, and see
whether it is best explained as the result of
natural selection or design.

©2000 Timothy G. Standish
In a Long Time
and Big Universe


It has been argued that given massive lengths of time
and a universe to work in, the unlikely becomes
likely:
Given infinite time, or infinite opportunities, anything
is possible. The large numbers proverbially furnished
by astronomy, and the large time spans characteristic
of geology, combine to turn topsy-turvy our everyday
estimates of what is expected and what is miraculous.
Richard Dawkins (1989) The Blind Watchmaker: Why the
evidence of evolution reveals a universe without design. W.
W. Norton and Co. New York. p139.
©2000 Timothy G. Standish
Understanding Complexity Allows
Better Estimates of Probability
At Darwin’s time, his explanation for the origin
of organisms seemed reasonable as their
complexity was not understood fully.
 “First simple monera are formed by spontaneous
generation, and from these arise unicellular
protists . . .”
The Riddle of the Universe at the close of the
Nineteenth Century by Ernst Haeckel, 1900.

©2000 Timothy G. Standish
Little or Big Changes?

Not all changes improve fitness, they may:
– Improve the fitness of an organism (very unlikely)
– Be neutral, having no effect on fitness
– Be detrimental, decreasing an organisms fitness (most likely)



The bigger the change the more likely it is to be
significantly detrimental
Darwin argued that evolution is the accumulation of many
small changes that improve fitness, big changes are
unlikely to result in improved fitness.
“Many large groups of facts are intelligible only on the
principle that species have been evolved by very small
steps.”
– The Origin of Species Chapter VII under “Reasons for disbelieving in great
and abrupt modifications”
©2000 Timothy G. Standish
Behe’s Insight


Michael Behe contends that when we look at the protein
machines that run cells, there is a point at which no parts
can be removed and still have a functioning machine.
He called these machines “irreducibly complex.”
We encounter irreducibly complex devices in everyday
life. A simple mouse trap is an example of an irreducibly
complex device:
Staple
Trigger
Hammer
Board
Cheese
Bait holder
Spring
©2000 Timothy G. Standish
Irreducibly Complex Protein
Machines



Cells are full of irreducibly complex devices - Little
protein machines that will only work if all the parts
(proteins) are present and arranged together correctly.
Natural selection does not provide a plausible mechanism
to get from nothing to the collection of parts necessary to
run a number of irreducibly complex protein machines
needed to have a living cell
Evolution of these protein machines must occur in single
steps, not gradually, as to be selected a protein must be
functional in some way. Each protein machine is fairly
complex, thus evolution in a single step seems unlikely.
©2000 Timothy G. Standish
Chemical
Evolution
©2000 Timothy G. Standish
Four Postulated Stages
of Chemical Evolution
 Chemical
evolution is the spontaneous
production of the molecular components of
cells that had to be produced prior to
evolution of the first cell:
1) Abiotic synthesis of organic monomers
2) Abiotic synthesis of organic polymers
3) Self assembly of protobionts
4) Evolution of a genetic system
 We will concentrate on the first two steps
©2000 Timothy G. Standish
Step 1: Abiotic Synthesis
of Organic Monomers
The monomers that make up polymers in living
cells are reduced carbon compounds
 Can’t happen in modern world due to oxidizing
atmosphere
 1920s A. I. Oparin (Russia) and J. B. S. Haldane
(Great Britain) postulated that as spontaneous
synthesis of reduced organic molecules is
impossible in an oxidizing environment, the earth
must have had a reducing atmosphere
 1953 Miller and Urey designed a device to test the
hypothesis that given the right conditions, organic
monomers could be produced

©2000 Timothy G. Standish
JBS Haldane

While Haldane was one of the founders of
population genetics, it is worth mentioning that he
was a screwball of the first order:
– Just before the 1925 signing of the Geneva protocol
banning chemical weapons, Haldane came out as an
advocate of chemical warfare
– He was a racist who believed blacks were immune to
chemical weapons and thus should be used as the
frontline troops in wars (with white officers to lead them
of course)
– As England had access to black troops from the
colonies, this would give them an advantage over
Germany in future chemical wars
©2000 Timothy G. Standish
The Miller-Urey Device
NH3 H
2
CH4
H2O
Sample
©2000 Timothy G. Standish
Products of
Miller and Urey’s Device

After several days of operation, the Miller-Urey device
produced a brown organic substance in which, either in
this experiment or subsequent variations, was found many
of the basic building blocks of:
–
–
–
–


Proteins (amino acids)
Nucleic acids (ribose, purines and pyrimidines)
Polysaccharides (sugars)
Fats (fatty acids and glycerol)
Note that it was the building blocks that were found, not
the actual macromolecules
Along with these building blocks, there were many other
molecules not found in organisms
©2000 Timothy G. Standish
Did Miller and Urey Prove
Chemical Evolution?
Six reasons that it does not prove chemical evolution:
 Oparin’s reducing conditions were postulated because they are
conditions allowing reduced organic molecule production, not because
of compelling evidence these conditions ever existed on earth.
 Reduced organic products were not the result of random chance, but
of a device that had been carefully designed and constructed.
 Products were not enriched in the chemicals that make up organisms.
This is a particular problem when it comes to stereoisomers.
 No organisms were actually made.
 Even if organisms were made in this way, this would not prove it to be
how things actually happened, it only shows it to be one possible way.
 Accumulation of organic monomers is only the first step in chemical
evolution.
©2000 Timothy G. Standish
Step 2: Abiotic Synthesis
of Organic Polymers

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
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It has been postulated that the monomer building blocks
produced under conditions resembling those in the MillerUrey experiment were joined together to make polymers
Experiments have been done that demonstrate this is
possible in the absence of living cells or cell products like
enzymes
The sequence in which monomers are joined together to
make polymers is vital to the function of polymers like
DNA and proteins.
No mechanism has been proposed for joining monomers in
meaningful sequences, thus abiotically synthesized organic
polymers are assumed to have been random in sequence.
©2000 Timothy G. Standish
A Polymerization Experiment
Imai et al, 1999 Science 283:831-883





Imai et al’s device “simulated the pressure and temperature
conditions of the hydrothermal circulation of water”
“However, there were still some large differences [from real
hydrothermal vents], for instance, in pH, CO2, Na and Cl
contents.”
100 mM glycine in pure water was circulated in the system
alternating temperature and pressure with each circuit
2 mM diketopiperazine, 1mM triglycine and 0.4 mM
diglycine resulted once close to steady state condtions were
reached
In the presence of Cu++ and low pH, small 0.001 mM
concentrations of up to hexaglycine were produced
©2000 Timothy G. Standish
Imai et al’s Device
Heating
Cooling
Depressurization
Pressurization
Sample
removal
©2000 Timothy G. Standish
Random Sequences are Unlikely
to be Meaningful or Useful
 Random
sequences of amino acids are
analogous to random sequences of letters:
– ldjfire vireahdftrfd
– grvcnlkertpoildrirti
– ugcrtrrtadhk jjkvhvf
– jmvcbkvbkjhcguvdrttr
– k jfvukvfkhjfvkhj he
 Random
sequences are unlikely to be
meaningful
©2000 Timothy G. Standish
Meaningful Sequences are
Unlikely




Even a short meaningful phrase is a very unlikely sequence of letters
For example, “In the beginning God” is only 20 letters long, but is
very unlikely to be produced by random typing of letters
Ignoring capitalization, and assuming each letter is equally probable,
the probability that the first character will be “I” is 1/27 (26 letters in
the alphabet plus the space makes 27)
The probability that the correct letter will be at each position is:
20
 1   2.36 10 29
27 


This is 0.0000000000000000000000000000236
Or about 1 chance in 50,000 trillion trillion
©2000 Timothy G. Standish
Is this a Fair Estimate of
Probability?
No!
 There are a number of ways in which this phrase
can have the same meaning:

– God, in the beginning
– In the beginning was the Word
– Before everything God

The same is true for proteins, in some areas of
most proteins, there can be a small amount of
variability, in other areas, there can be no change
in the sequence of amino acid monomers
©2000 Timothy G. Standish
Does this Make Production of
Functional Proteins Likely?



No!
Lets look at an example, the enzyme Glyceraldehyde-3phosphate dehydrogenase:
The Mycoplasma genitalium G-3-P dehydrogenase
protein sequence:
– MAAKNRTIKV AINGFGRIGR LVFRSLLSKA NVEVVAINDL
TQPEVLAHLL KYDSAHGELK RKITVKQNIL QIDRKKVYVF
SEKDPQNLPW DEHDIDVVIE STGRFVSEEG ASLHLKAGAK
RVIISAPAKE KTIRTVVYNV NHKTISSDDK IISAASCTTN
CLAPLVHVLE KNFGIVYGTM LTVHAYTADQ RLQDAPHNDL
RRARAAAVNI VPTTTGAAKA IGLVVPEANG KLNGMSLRVP
VLTGSIVELS VVLEKSPSVE QVNQAMKRFA SASFKYCEDP
IVSSDVVSSE YGSIFDSKLT NIVEVDGMKL YKVYAWYDNE
SSYVHQLVRV VSYCAKL
©2000 Timothy G. Standish
Why Random Production of
Glyceraldehyde-3-Phosphate
Dehydrogenase is Improbable




There are 337 amino acids strung together to make the
Mycoplasma genitalium G-3-P dehydrogenase protein
At each position in the string there could be any one of 20
amino acids
Probability of making this protein using random synthesis
is (1/20)337 = 3.5 x 10-439 or 1 chance in 2.9 x 10-438
Even if there are a trillion trillion ways of making G-3-P
dehydrogenase, that only lowers the probability of making
a functional protein to 3.5 x 10-415
©2000 Timothy G. Standish

3.5 x 10-439 Is
A Very Small Number
0.000000000000000000000000000000000000000
00000000000000000000000000000000000000000
00000000000000000000000000000000000000000
00000000000000000000000000000000000000000
00000000000000000000000000000000000000000
00000000000000000000000000000000000000000
00000000000000000000000000000000000000000
00000000000000000000000000000000000000000
00000000000000000000000000000000000000000
00000000000000000000000000000000000000000
00000000000000000000000000000035
©2000 Timothy G. Standish
Where G-3-P Dehdrogenase
Fits Into the Scheme of Life
All cells contain a biochemical pathway that
converts sugar to energy
 The first part of this pathway is called the
glycolytic (sugar splitting) pathway
 Sugar is taken in at the start of the pathway and the
products are energy in the form of ATP, a chemical
called pyruvate and another chemical called
NADH.
 Glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehdrogenase is one
of the enzymes in the glycolytic pathway.

©2000 Timothy G. Standish
The Glycolytic Pathway
ATP
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Pyruvate
Each step in the pathway
represents a small change in
the sugar molecule
 As these small changes are
made, the sugar is slowly
turned into something
different
 Glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate
dehydrogenase is found at
step 6 in the glycolytic
pathway

ATP Sugar
NAD+
NADH
ADP+P
ATP
ADP+P
ATP
©2000 Timothy G. Standish
What Actually Happens At
Step 6

By the time step 6 is reached, the 6 carbon sugar molecule has been
split into two three carbon molecules called glyceraldehyde-3H
H
phosphate
|
|
CH2OH
H
HO
H
OH
O
H
OH
OH
H

H
C=O
C=O
|
|
H-C-OH
H-C-OH
|
|
C
CH2-O-P
H2-O-P
Glyceraldehyde-3-Phosphate
Glucose
In step 6 of glycolysis, glyceraldehyde-3-phospate is converted to
1,3-bisphosphoglycerate and oxidized nicotinomide adenine
dinucleotide phosphate (NAD+) is reduced
H
|
C=O
|
H-C-OH
|
CH2-O-P
+ NAD+ + P
Glyceraldehyde-3-Phosphate
P-C=O
|
H-C-OH
|
CH2-O-P
+ NADH
1,3-Bisphosphoglycerate
©2000 Timothy G. Standish
From G-3-P to 1,3-BPG In
Four Easy Steps
NADH
NAD+
S
C-O|
H- C-OH
|
CH2-O-P
NADH
S
C-O-
|
H- C-OH
|
CH2-O-P
P
NAD+
S
NAD+
S H|
C=O
|
H- C-OH
|
CH2-O-P
H
|
C=O
|
H-C-OH
|
CH2-O-P
P- C=O
|
H- C-OH
|
CH2-O-P
P- C=O
|
H- C-OH
|
CH2-O-P
1,3Bisphosphoglycerate
Glyceraldehyde3-Phosphate
©2000 Timothy G. Standish
Summary

To convert G-3-P to 1,3-bisphosphoglycerate all of the
following components must be present:
–
–
–
–


The enzyme - Glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase
NAD+- Oxidized Nicotinamide Adenine Dinucleotide
Phosphate
Glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate
This reaction would be pointless in the absence of the next
step in the glycolytic pathway, the production of ATP
catalyzed by phosphoglycerokinase
A separate set of reactions is necessary to regenerate the
NAD+ from NADH
©2000 Timothy G. Standish
NAD+
H
O
C
O
HO
NH2
N
CH2
O
O
P
O
OH
OH
HO
NH2
O
P
OH
N
O
CH2
OH
N
O
N
N
OH
©2000 Timothy G. Standish


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What Does This Mean?
The glycolytic pathway is central to life
The components needed for step 6 are unlikely to have all
come about via chemical evolution (random processes)
particularly glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase
Natural selection could not work on the enzyme
glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase in the absence
of the other enzymes in the glycolytic pathway as this
reaction is pointless without the subsequent reactions
Chemical evolution combined with natural selection does
not provide a convincing mechanism for the production of
components needed for step 6 in the glycolytic pathway
The same could be said for the other 9 steps in the
glycolytic pathway
©2000 Timothy G. Standish
Yes, It Is Unlikely . . . But



The argument is not that the origin of life was an unlikely
event, but that given sufficient time and resources chance
events could produce the first organism that could then be
acted on by the guiding hand of natural selection
So what are the resources available for the production of
the first/simplest organism? Is it really the universe?
“The Monera (for instance, chromacea and bacteria),
which consist only of this primitive protoplasm, and
which arise by spontaneous generation from these
inorganic nitrocarbonates, may thus have entered upon the
same course of evolution on many other planets . . .”
– The Riddle of the Universe at the close of the Nineteenth Century
by Haeckel.
©2000 Timothy G. Standish
Space and Time


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
The conditions necessary to produce reduced carbon
compounds like those produced in the Miller-Urey
experiment have not, so far, been found elsewhere in the
universe
In reality, the conditions needed for life seem to only be
present in a tiny fraction of the universe and we happen to
be living on it.
Time is the other element needed, and this is a real
problem
Even if the conventional interpretation of the fossil record
is used, life seems to have appeared very soon (a few
million, not billions of years) after water appeared on earth
©2000 Timothy G. Standish
Conventional History Of The Earth
0
1,000
Human fossils
Last dinosaur fossils
First reptile fossils
First land plant fossils
-First multicellular animal fossils
1,500
-First eukaryotic fossils
Cenozoic
Millions of Years BP
Mesozoic
500 Paleozoic
2,000 Precambrian
2,500
3,000
3,500
-Atmospheric Oxygen accumulation
(from cyanobacteria)
4,000
-First fossil prokaryotes
Origin of life
-Crust forms
4,500
-Formation of the earth
©2000 Timothy G. Standish
When Was The Earth Sterile?
Recent explorations of the oldest known rocks of marine
sedimentary origin from the southwestern coast of
Greenland suggest that they preserve a biogeochemical
record of early life. On the basis of the age of these rocks,
the emergence of the biosphere appears to overlap with a
period of intense global bombardment. This finding could
also be consistent with evidence from molecular biology
that places the ancestry of primitive bacteria living in
extreme thermal environments near the last common
ancestor of all known life.
Stephen J. Mojzsis, T. Mark Harrison. Vestiges of a Beginning: Clues to
the Emergent Biosphere Recorded in the Oldest Known Sedimentary
Rocks. GSA Today, April 2000, 10(4), 1-??
©2000 Timothy G. Standish
Newer Ideas
Mars may have served as life’s incubator as it cooled
before earth and had a moist environment.
 Life, in the form of bacteria or bluegreen algae, was
transferred to earth when chunks of Mars knocked
off by collisions with comets etc. fell to earth.
 This general idea is not new. Francis Crick called it
“panspermia” in Life Itself where he says the earth
was seeded with life from space (Hoyle may also
have published something similar)
 None of this makes explanations simpler, just more
complex (should Ockham’s Razor be invoked?)

©2000 Timothy G. Standish
But There’s More






A Lot More
The organism Mycoplasma genitalium from which the G-3-P
dehydrogenase we looked at came from is the simplest known
“free living” organism (although it is a parasite)
M. genitalium has a genome of 580,070 bp (humans have about
3,000,000,000)
The calculated number of proteins (genes) in this the simplest
known organism, is 470
The average size of M. genitalium proteins is about 350 amino
acids (in the ball park of G-3-P dehydrogenase)
Even if enough time and space existed to generate a minimally
functional G-3-P dehydrogenase, this is just the tip of the ice burg
M. genitalium has to be close to irreducibly complex.
Conditions under which a less complex organism could exist are
just about as improbable as generating the organism in the first
place and present a host of other problems
©2000 Timothy G. Standish
Conclusions




Life is far more complicated than was anticipated by the
originators and early defenders of natural selection as a
mechanism for life’s origin independent of a Creator
Natural selection does not provide a convincing
mechanism for the origin of biochemical pathways and
other molecular machines basic to life
Claims that almost infinite amounts of time and space
could account for the improbable origin of life seem less
convincing in light of current exploration of space and
understanding of the fossil record
Creationists can accept change over time and natural
selection as a mechanism for small changes, but, in light of
current knowledge faith in a Creator of life remains well
founded
©2000 Timothy G. Standish
Psalms 8:3-6
3 When I consider thy heavens, the work of
thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou
hast ordained;
4 What is man, that thou art mindful of him?
and the son of man, that thou visitest him?
5 For thou hast made him a little lower than
the angels, and hast crowned him with glory
and honour.
6 Thou madest him to have dominion over
the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things
under his feet:
©2000 Timothy G. Standish
The Information Catch 22
With only poor copying fidelity, a primitive
system could carry little genetic information
without L [the mutation rate] becoming
unbearably large, and how a primitive system
could then improve its fidelity and also
evolve into a sexual system with crossover
beggars the imagination."
Hoyle F., "Mathematics of Evolution", [1987],
Acorn Enterprises: Memphis TN, 1999, p20
©2000 Timothy G. Standish
Evolution . . . So 20th Century
"In the realm of science, scholars such as
William Dembski and Michael Behe have
been demonstrating how the order in the
universe is evidence that it has been
intelligently designed. 'No!' say the
Darwinists. 'Everything has to be random!'
But the evolutionists are the ones who sound
so outdated, so 20th century.”
Veith, Gene E. Reality makes a comeback. World
Magazine Feb. 12, 2000 Volume 15 Number 6
©2000 Timothy G. Standish
©2000 Timothy G. Standish
RNA World
The 'RNA world' scenario hinges on some rather farfetched assumptions about the catalytic ability of
RNA. For example, RNA polymerase ribozymes
must have been responsible for replicating the
ribozymes of the RNA world, including themselves
(via their complementary sequences). RNA
replication is a very challenging set of reactions -far more challenging than those yet known to be
catalyzed by RNA.
David P. Bartel and Peter J. Unrau, "Constructing an RNA
World." Trends in Biochemical Sciences 24 (1999):M9M13.
©2000 Timothy G. Standish