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Cited by 71Origins and Evolution of LifeRNA and protein synthesis mechanismsEvolution and Genetic Dynamics

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 24 of the 25 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.

A Research Proposal on the Origin Of Life. Closing Lecture given at the ISSOL Congress in Oaxaca, Mexico, on July 4, 2002

de Duve, Christian·2003·Origins of life and evolution of the biosphere
DOI 10.1023/a:1025760311436
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Abstract

This paper describes some experiments the author would have liked to carry out if he had started earlier in the origin-of-life field. The proposal is preceded by a hypothetical outline of the main events in the origin of life. According to this outline, the emergence of life amounts to the transition between two kinds of chemistry: 1) cosmic chemistry, which is beginning to be understood and most likely provided the building blocks with which life was first constructed; and 2) biochemistry, the well-known set of enzyme-catalyzed metabolic reactions that support all living organisms today and must have supported the universal common ancestor, or LUCA, from which all known forms of life are derived. The pathway leading from one to the other of those two chemistries may be divided into three stages, defined as the pre-RNA, RNA, and protein-DNA stages. A brief summary of the events that may have occurred in these three stages and of the possible underlying mechanisms is given. It is emphasized that these events were chemical in nature and, especially, that they must have prefigured present-day biochemical processes. Protometabolism and metabolism, it is argued, must have been congruent. With congruence as the underlying working hypothesis, three problems open to experimental investigation are considered: 1) the involvement of peptides and other multimers as catalysts of early biogenic chemistry; 2) the participation of thioesters in primitive energy transactions; and 3) the influence of amino acids on the molecular selection of RNA molecules.

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Research works printed but not linked: 6

  1. Brack, A.: 2003, La Chimie de l'Origine de la Vie, in Gargaud, M., Despois, D., Parisot, J.P. and Reisse, J. (eds.), Les Traces du Vivant, Presses Universitaires de Bordeaux (in press).
  2. Cammack, R.: 1983, Evolution and Diversity in the Iron-Sulfur Proteins, Chem. Scr. 21, 87–95.
  3. de Duve, C.: 1988, Prebiotic Syntheses and the Mechanism of Early Evolution, in Kleinkauf, H., von Döhren, H., and Jaenicke, L. (eds), The Roots of Modern Biochemistry: Fritz Lipmann's Squiggle and its Consequences, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin, pp. 881–894.
  4. de Duve, C.: 1991, Blueprint for a Cell, Neil Patterson, Publishers, Carolina Biological Supply Company, Burlington, N C.
  5. de Duve, C.: 1996, Vital Dust, BasicBooks, New York.
  6. Fox. S. W.: 1988, The Emergence of Life, BasicBooks, New York.

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Metadata

Authors
de Duve, C.
Venue
Origins of life and evolution of the biosphere
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Published
2003-12
Volume
33
Issue
6
Pages
559-574
ISSN
  • 0169-6149 (ISSN-L)
  • 1573-0875
DOI
10.1023/a:1025760311436
OpenAlex
W1717117249
Cited by
71
References
25
Citations by year
2025: 2 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 6 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 6 · 2017: 1 · 2016: 1 · 2015: 1 · 2014: 4 · 2013: 1 · 2012: 1
FWCI
2.32
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Licence
Locations
  • Origins of Life and Evolution of Biospheres (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Digital Access to Libraries (Université catholique de Louvain (UCL), l'Université de Namur (UNamur) and the Université Saint-Louis (USL-B)) (submittedVersion)
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Origins and Evolution of Life
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › RNA and protein synthesis mechanisms
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Evolution and Genetic Dynamics
Keywords
origin of life, prebiotic chemistry, protometabolism, metabolism, RNA world, peptide catalysis, amino acids, RNA selection
MeSH terms
Origin of Life, Amino Acids, DNA, Genetic Code, Models, Theoretical, Proteins, Research Design, RNA, Evolution, Molecular, Life, Evolution, Chemical

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