Concept in Definition ABC

Scientists have posed an essential question to understand the existence of life on the planet: How did the first forms of life arise? The discipline that tries to give an answer to this question is known as abiogenesis.

The founder of abiogenesis was the Russian scientist Aleksander Ivanovich Oparin (1894-1980).

Abiogenesis focuses on rebuilding the natural processes that created life

Today it is known that life on planet Earth began approximately 4.5 billion years ago. Oparin carried out several investigations to try to reconstruct how the first life forms appeared. For this he started from a hypothesis initial: that the original atmosphere was formed from four elements (ammonia, Water, methane and hydrogen).

In its laboratory he performed a series of simulations with these substances. After combining them properly he was able to appreciate that different organic amino acids had been formed spontaneously from these four inorganic elements.

According to Oparin there were several

factors that triggered the appearance of the first amino acids (the substances that later developed to form the primitive forms of life). In this sense, the high temperatures of the planet, the action of ultraviolet rays from the Sun and the action of Electrical discharges from the atmosphere were the three factors that triggered chemical reactions on ammonia, water, methane, and hydrogen.

With the training of the amino acids the protein, that is, the main constituents of amino acids and other organic molecules. Over time, the temperatures of the planet were decreasing and the steam generated was transformed into rain. New molecules were created in the oceans with the rain.

The modalities of molecules were multiplying and after a process of evolution enzymes and ferments appeared that facilitated new chemical reactions. These rudimentary life forms eventually became cells and with them the first living things emerged.

From mythology to abiogenesis

In all ancient civilizations there are mythological stories in which the origin of life is explained. In mythology a supernatural explanation is used. The will of the different gods was the generator of life as we know it. Thousands of years ago it was unimaginable to understand the phenomena of nature from strictly biological mechanisms.

Between the mythology of three thousand years ago and the abiogenesis of the 20th century there was a long period of time in which philosophers tried to understand the processes of life following the dictates of the reason.

Photos: Fotolia - creativ000 / jozefklopacka

Topics in Abiogenesis