Life Evolution

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For a more concise outline of the evolution of life, see Timeline of evolutionary history of life.

"History of evolution" redirects here. It is not to be confused with History of evolutionary thought.

Timescale of the evolutionary history of life from Cambrian untilHolocene. The Precambrian is only shown as a


small line on the bottom, but it was the far longest time in Earth history (see graphic below).

The evolutionary history of life on Earth traces the processes by which living


and fossil organisms have evolved since lifeappeared on the planet, until the present day. Earth
formed about 4.5 Ga (billion years) ago and there is evidence that life appeared within 0.5 billion
years.[1] The similarities between all present-day organisms indicate the presence of a common
ancestor from which all known species have diverged through the process of evolution. [2] More than
99 percent of all species, amounting to over five billion species, [3] that ever lived on Earth are
estimated to be extinct.[4][5] Estimates on the number of Earth's current species range from 10 million
to 14 million,[6] of which about 1.2 million have been documented and over 86 percent have not yet
been described.

Earliest history of Earth[edit]


History of Earth and its life

The oldest meteorite fragments found on Earth are about 4.54 billion years old; this, coupled
primarily with the dating of ancient lead deposits, has put the estimated age of Earth at around that
time.[35] The Moon has the same composition as Earth's crust but does not contain an iron-
rich corelike the Earth's. Many scientists think that about 40 million years later a body the size of
Mars struck the Earth, throwing into orbit crust material that formed the Moon. Another hypothesis is
that the Earth and Moon started to coalesce at the same time but the Earth, having much
stronger gravitythan the early Moon, attracted almost all the iron particles in the area. [36]

Until 2001, the oldest rocks found on Earth were about 3.8 billion years old, [37][38][39][40] leading scientists
to estimate that the Earth's surface had been molten until then. Accordingly, they named this part of
Earth's history the Hadean, whose name means "hellish."[41] However, analysis ofzircons formed 4.4
Ga indicates that Earth's crust solidified about 100 million years after the planet's formation and that
the planet quickly acquired oceans and an atmosphere, which may have been capable of supporting
life.[42][43][44]

Evidence from the Moon indicates that from 4 to 3.8 Ga it suffered a Late Heavy Bombardment by
debris that was left over from the formation of the Solar System, and the Earth should have
experienced an even heavier bombardment due to its stronger gravity.[41][45] While there is no direct
evidence of conditions on Earth 4 to 3.8 Ga, there is no reason to think that the Earth was not also
affected by this late heavy bombardment. [46] This event may well have stripped away any previous
atmosphere and oceans; in this case gases and water from comet impacts may have contributed to
their replacement, although volcanic outgassing on Earth would have supplied at least half.
[47]
However, if subsurface microbial life had evolved by this point, it would have survived the
bombardment.[48]

Earliest evidence for life on Earth[edit]


The earliest identified organisms were minute and relatively featureless, and their fossils look like
small rods, which are very difficult to tell apart from structures that arise through abiotic physical
processes. The oldest undisputed evidence of life on Earth, interpreted as fossilized bacteria, dates
to 3 Ga.[49] Other finds in rocks dated to about 3.5 Ga have been interpreted as bacteria,
[50]
 with geochemical evidence also seeming to show the presence of life 3.8 Ga.[51] However, these
analyses were closely scrutinized, and non-biological processes were found which could produce all
of the "signatures of life" that had been reported. [52][53] While this does not prove that the structures
found had a non-biological origin, they cannot be taken as clear evidence for the presence of life.
Geochemical signatures from rocks deposited 3.4 Ga have been interpreted as evidence for life, [49]
[54]
 although these statements have not been thoroughly examined by critics.
Origins of life on Earth[edit]

Evolutionary tree showing the divergence of modern species from their common ancestor in the center. [55] The
three domains are colored, withbacteria blue, archaea green, and eukaryotes red.

Further information: Evidence of common descent, Common descent and Homology (biology)

Biologists reason that all living organisms on Earth must share a single last universal ancestor,
because it would be virtually impossible that two or more separate lineages could have
independently developed the many complex biochemical mechanisms common to all living
organisms.[56][57] As previously mentioned the earliest organisms for which fossil evidence is available
are bacteria. The lack of fossil or geochemical evidence for earlier organisms has left plenty of scope
for hypotheses, which fall into two main groups: 1) that life arose spontaneously on Earth or 2) that it
was "seeded" from elsewhere in the Universe.[citation needed]

Life "seeded" from elsewhere[edit]


Main article: Panspermia

Panspermia does not explain how life arose in the first place, but simply examines the possibility of it
coming from somewhere other than the Earth. The idea that life on Earth was "seeded" from
elsewhere in the Universe dates back at least to the Greek philosopher Anaximander in the sixth
century BCE.[58] In the twentieth century it was proposed by the physical chemistSvante Arrhenius,
[59]
 by the astronomers Fred Hoyle and Chandra Wickramasinghe,[60] and by molecular
biologist Francis Crick and chemist Leslie Orgel.[61]

There are three main versions of the "seeded from elsewhere" hypothesis: from elsewhere in our
Solar System via fragments knocked into space by a large meteor impact, in which case the most
credible sources are Mars[62] and Venus;[63] by alien visitors, possibly as a result of
accidental contamination by microorganisms that they brought with them; [61] and from outside the
Solar System but by natural means.[59][62]

Experiments in low Earth orbit, such as EXOSTACK, demonstrated that some


microorganism spores can survive the shock of being catapulted into space and some can survive
exposure to outer space radiation for at least 5.7 years.[64][65] Scientists are divided over the likelihood
of life arising independently on Mars,[66] or on other planets in ourgalaxy.[62]

Independent emergence on Earth[edit]


Main article: Abiogenesis

Life on Earth is based on carbon and water. Carbon provides stable frameworks for complex
chemicals and can be easily extracted from the environment, especially from carbon dioxide.
[44]
 There is no other chemical element whose properties are similar enough to carbon's to be called
an analogue; silicon, the element directly below carbon on theperiodic table, does not form very
many complex stable molecules, and because most of its compounds are water-insoluble, it would
be more difficult for organisms to extract. The elements boron and phosphorus have more complex
chemistries, but suffer from other limitations relative to carbon. Water is an excellent solvent and has
two other useful properties: the fact that ice floats enables aquatic organisms to survive beneath it in
winter; and its molecules have electrically negative and positive ends, which enables it to form a
wider range of compounds than other solvents can. Other good solvents, such as ammonia, are
liquid only at such low temperatures that chemical reactions may be too slow to sustain life, and lack
water's other advantages.[67] Organisms based on alternative biochemistry may, however, be
possible on other planets.[68]

Research on how life might have emerged from non-living chemicals focuses on three possible
starting points: self-replication, an organism's ability to produce offspring that are very similar to
itself; metabolism, its ability to feed and repair itself; and external cell membranes, which allow food
to enter and waste products to leave, but exclude unwanted substances. [69] Research on abiogenesis
still has a long way to go, since theoretical and empirical approaches are only beginning to make
contact with each other.[70][71]

Replication first: RNA world[edit]


Main articles: Last universal ancestor and RNA world hypothesis

Even the simplest members of the three modern domains of life use DNA to record their "recipes"
and a complex array of RNA and protein molecules to "read" these instructions and use them for
growth, maintenance and self-replication. The discovery that some RNA molecules
can catalyze both their own replication and the construction of proteins led to the hypothesis of
earlier life-forms based entirely on RNA.[72] These ribozymes could have formed an RNA world in
which there were individuals but no species, as mutations andhorizontal gene transfers would have
meant that the offspring in each generation were quite likely to have different genomes from those
that their parents started with.[73] RNA would later have been replaced by DNA, which is more stable
and therefore can build longer genomes, expanding the range of capabilities a single organism can
have.[73][74][75]Ribozymes remain as the main components of ribosomes, modern cells' "protein
factories."[76]
Although short self-replicating RNA molecules have been artificially produced in laboratories,
[77]
 doubts have been raised about where natural non-biological synthesis of RNA is possible. [78] The
earliest "ribozymes" may have been formed of simpler nucleic acids such as PNA, TNA or GNA,
which would have been replaced later by RNA.[79][80]

In 2003, it was proposed that porous metal sulfide precipitates would assist RNA synthesis at about
100 °C (212 °F) and ocean-bottom pressures near hydrothermal vents. Under this
hypothesis, lipid membranes would be the last major cell components to appear and, until then,
the protocells would be confined to the pores.[81]

Metabolism first: Iron–sulfur world[edit]


Main article: Iron–sulfur world theory

A series of experiments starting in 1997 showed that early stages in the formation of proteins from
inorganic materials including carbon monoxide and hydrogen sulfide could be achieved by using iron
sulfide and nickel sulfide as catalysts. Most of the steps required temperatures of about 100 °C
(212 °F) and moderate pressures, although one stage required 250 °C (482 °F) and a pressure
equivalent to that found under 7 kilometres (4.3 mi) of rock. Hence it was suggested that self-
sustaining synthesis of proteins could have occurred near hydrothermal vents. [82]

Membranes first: Lipid world[edit]

     = water-attracting heads of lipidmolecules


     = water-repellent tails

Cross-section through a liposome

It has been suggested that double-walled "bubbles" of lipids like those that form the external
membranes of cells may have been an essential first step. [83] Experiments that simulated the
conditions of the early Earth have reported the formation of lipids, and these can spontaneously
form liposomes, double-walled "bubbles," and then reproduce themselves. [44] Although they are not
intrinsically information-carriers as nucleic acids are, they would be subject to natural selection for
longevity and reproduction. Nucleic acids such as RNA might then have formed more easily within
the liposomes than they would have outside.[84]

The clay hypothesis[edit]


Main articles: Graham Cairns-Smith § Clay hypothesis and RNA world hypothesis

RNA is complex and there are doubts about whether it can be produced non-biologically in the wild.
[78]
 Some clays, notablymontmorillonite, have properties that make them plausible accelerators for the
emergence of an RNA world: they grow by self-replication of their crystalline pattern; they are
subject to an analog of natural selection, as the clay "species" that grows fastest in a particular
environment rapidly becomes dominant; and they can catalyze the formation of RNA molecules.
[85]
 Although this idea has not become the scientific consensus, it still has active supporters. [86]

Research in 2003 reported that montmorillonite could also accelerate the conversion of fatty
acids into "bubbles," and that the "bubbles" could encapsulate RNA attached to the clay. These
"bubbles" can then grow by absorbing additional lipids and then divide. The formation of the earliest
cells may have been aided by similar processes.

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