Since the 1930s the accepted theories for the origins of cells and therefore the origin of life, claim that chemical reactions in the earth's most ancient atmosphere produced the building blocks of life - in essence - life first, cells second and the atmosphere playing a role.
Professor Martin and Dr Russell have long had problems with the existing hypotheses of cell evolution and their theory turns traditional views upside down. They claim that cells came first. The first cells were not living cells but inorganic ones made of iron sulphide and were formed not at the earth's surface but in total darkness at the bottom of the oceans. Life, they say, is a chemical consequence of convection currents through the earth's crust and in principle, this could happen on any wet, rocky planet.
Dr Russell says: "As hydrothermal fluid - rich in compounds such as hydrogen, cyanide, sulphides and carbon monoxide - emerged from the earth's crust at the ocean floor, it reacted inside the tiny metal sulphide cavities. They provided the right microenvironment for chemical reactions to take place. That kept the building blocks of life concentrated at the site where they were formed rather than diffusing away into the ocean. The iron sulphide cells, we argue, is where life began."
One of the implications of Martin and Russell's theory is that life on our planet, even on other planets or some large moons in our own solar system, might be much more likely than previously assumed.
The research by Professor Martin and Dr Russell is backed up by another paper The redox protein construction kit: pre-last universal common+ ancestor evolution of energy-conserving enzymes by F. Baymann, E. Lebrun, M. Brugna, B. Schoepp-Cothenet, M.-T. Giudici-Orticoni & W. Nitschke which will be published in the same edition.
*On the origins of cells: a hypothesis for the evolutionary transitions from abiotic geochemistry to chemoautotrophic prokaryotes, and from prokaryotes to nucleated cells by Professor William Martin, Institut fuer Botanik III, University of Dusseldorf and Dr Michael Russell, Scottish Environmental Research Centre, Glasgow.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
PLEASE ACKNOWLEDGE PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS B AS THE SOURCE FOR ANY ITEMS USED
Introduction
J. F. Allen & J. A. Raven
Genomes at the interface between bacteria and organelles A.E. Douglas & J. A. Raven
The function of genomes in bioenergetic organelles J. F. Allen
How big is the iceberg of which organellar genes in nuclear genomes are but the tip? W. F. Doolittle, Y. Boucher, C. L. Nesbø, C. Douady, J. O. Andersson & A. J. Roger
On the origins of cells: a hypothesis for the evolutionary transitions from abiotic geochemistry to chemoautotrophic prokaryotes, and from prokaryotes to nucleated cells W. Martin & M. J. Russell
Eukaryotic genome evolution: rearrangement and coevolution of compartmentalized genetic information R. G. Herrmann, R. M. Maier and C. Schmitz-Linneweber
Evolution of the chloroplast genome C. J. Howe, A. C. Barbrook, V. L. Koumandou, R. E. R. Nisbet, H. A. Symington & T. F. Wightman
Genomic reduction and evolution of novel genetic membranes and protein-targeting machinery in eukaryote-eukaryote chimaeras (meta-algae) T. Cavalier-Smith
Coordination of plastid and nuclear gene expression J. C. Gray, J. A. Sullivan, J.-H. Wang, C. A. Jerome & D. MacLean
Redox and light regulation of gene expression in photosynthetic prokaryotes C. Bauer, S. Elsen, L. R. Swem, D. L. Swem & S. Masuda
Parasite plastids: maintenance and functions R. J. M. Wilson, K. Rangachari, J. W. Saldanha, L. Rickman, R. S. Buxton & J. F. Eccleston
On the origin of mitochondria: a genomics perspective S. G. E. Andersson, O. Karlberg, B. Canbäck & C. G. Kurland
Gene expression in plant mitochondria: transcriptional and post-transcriptional control S. Binder and A. Brennicke
Mitochondria and hydrogenosomes are two forms of the same fundamental organelle T. M. Embley, M. van der Giezen, D. S. Horner, P. L. Dyal & P. Foster
Biochemical and evolutionary aspects of anaerobically functioning mitochondria J. J. van Hellemond, A. van der Klei, S. W. H. van Weelden & A. G. M. Tielens
General discussion
Evolution of photosynthetic prokaryotes: a maximum-likelihood mapping approach J. Raymond, O. Zhaxybayeva, J. P. Gogarten & R. E. Blankenship
Type I photosynthetic reaction centres: structure and function P. Heathcote, M. R. Jones & P. K. Fyfe
Photosystem II: evolutionary perspectives A. W. Rutherford & P. Faller
C-type cytochromes: diverse structures and biogenesis systems pose evolutionary problems J. W. A. Allen, O. Daltrop, J. M. Stevens & S. J. Ferguson
The redox protein construction kit: pre-last universal common+ ancestor evolution of energy-conserving enzymes F. Baymann, E. Lebrun, M. Brugna, B. Schoepp-Cothenet, M.-T. Giudici-Orticoni & W. Nitschke
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