Abiogenesis

[mrhnau]

The current (March 2006) issue of Discover magazine contains an article on viruses, which suggests that viruses may be the precursors of all life on Earth, and may, in fact, add another branch to the three branches of life long recognized by biologists (eukaryotes, bacteria, and archaea). A very interesting read. The current issue up on the website is February 2006, so I cannot quote it here, but I do suggest that interested persons might wish to read the article.

This relates to this discussion because viruses, long-thought to be evolutionarily relative newcomers, are on the border between organic and inorganic - while most viruses require other life to survive and reproduce, the article discusses newly-discovered, complex, and long-established viruses that meet the definition of life given earlier in this thread.

wow, thats pretty cool I've worked with genomes of viruses (HIV-1 in particular) and they are pretty small, but mostly parasitic. I'd be interested to see viruses that meet the requirements of life... that would be interesting wonder how they transfect then...or why? interesting thanks for sharing!

 

[qizmoduis]

Hrmph. I'm not sure whether this is sarcasm here or just a misunderstanding of developmental psychology.

Sarcasm.

It's becoming increasingly more apparent that this supposedly "very simple process/idea" (i.e., the standard neo-Darwinian or synthetic model of evolution) is actually not so simple (i.e., phenotypic plasticity, self-organizing systems, genetic "contamination" via viruses, internal feedback-loops, the Baldwin effect, punctuated equilibrium, multi-level nested hierarchies, quasi-linear trends in both phylogeny and ontogeny, etc).

Yes and no. The basic algorithm is extremely simple: a trait that enhances or at least does not hinder reproduction has an increased chance of being passed on to the next generation. Originally, it was believed that there was only a single way for this to happen - mutation. Now we've uncovered plenty of other ways to change/acquire new traits. But those mechanisms only inject additional chaos into the basic algorithm, allowing greater complexity over a shorter timescale than you might get with just random mutations.

My understanding, obviously, is that of a layman and I probably view things from too far into a computer science perspective, but I think I've got a decent grasp of the basics. It all makes perfect sense to me. Frankly, I have a hard time understanding exactly how anybody can be confused by such a simple thing as evolution.

But then, this is a thread about abiogenesis, so we've gone off-topic, as usual. Life, at it's most basic level, is one giant, ongoing chemical reaction, fueled by the sun (or by geothermal energy, depending on your location). Scientists have shown already that the right mix of chemicals plus an input of energy over time can generate the basic building blocks of life. And that's just in a small laboratory. The earth isn't small, and the sun isn't a lightbulb or a Bunsen burner. It had billions of years to stew. Frankly, it just isn't that surprising to me that something happened.

 

[Makalakumu]

The current (March 2006) issue of Discover magazine contains an article on viruses, which suggests that viruses may be the precursors of all life on Earth, and may, in fact, add another branch to the three branches of life long recognized by biologists (eukaryotes, bacteria, and archaea). A very interesting read. The current issue up on the website is February 2006, so I cannot quote it here, but I do suggest that interested persons might wish to read the article.

This relates to this discussion because viruses, long-thought to be evolutionarily relative newcomers, are on the border between organic and inorganic - while most viruses require other life to survive and reproduce, the article discusses newly-discovered, complex, and long-established viruses that meet the definition of life given earlier in this thread.

I think that every virus we see has evolved in response to cellular life. However, the idea of a virus is intriguing because it hints that conglomerations of molecules that do not take cellular shape can still exhibit characteristics of life. Viruses point the way, not with their actual biology, but with the idea of their biology, toward a living thing that is very simple and non-cellular.