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Huck Finn

1. Oparin and Haldane suggested that Earth’s early atmosphere had been a reducing environment and organic compounds could have formed from simple molecules. Lightning and intense UV radiation could have served as energy to synthesize such organic substances. Haldane suggested that the early oceans were a solution of organic molecules. The hypothesis of Oparin and Haldane were tested by Miller by creating laboratory conditions similar to those and the result was many amino acids.
2. Abiotic synthesis of organic monomers - Laboratory experiments support postulates from Oparin and Haldane that lightning provided energy for the synthesis of simple molecules from the specific reducing atmosphere of Earth at the time. Other evidence suggests that organic compounds may have been synthesized near submerged volcanoes and deep-sea vents. Such regions were at a reducing state and were rich in inorganic sulfur and iron compounds, which are important in ATP synthesis. Fragments of outer space materials contain amino acids that have similar proportions to the amino acids produced in the Miller experiments. Abiotic synthesis of polymers- Researchers have made similar polymers by dripping amino acid solutions on hot sand and the polymers formed spontaneously without enzymes or ribosomes. Formation of protobionts - Laboratory experiments show that some protobionts could have formed spontaneously from abiotically produced organic compounds. For instance, liposomes can be formed when lipids are added to water. Similar droplets forming in early Earth’s ponds incorporated random polymers into their membranes which made the membranes selectively permeable. Origin of genetic information - Because it can also carry out a number of enzyme-like catalytic functions, RNA was probably the first genetic material. Some were self-splicing introns and some could act on different molecules. Unlike DNA’s fixed double helix structure, it also can take the form of many three-dimensional shapes....

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