Intro, Ch1, Ch2

Name: ____Daniel Martinez____________________________
BIO 3530 Evolution

Reading and Discussion Questions
“Life Ascending: The Ten Great Inventions of Evolution” by Nick Lane
Introduction, Chapter 1 and Chapter 2
Introduction
1. This book is about “Great Inventions of Evolution.” The author clarifies what he means by “invention.” How
does he define an invention? How does his use of the term differ from human inventions?
a. The original contrivance or production of a new method or means of doing something, previously
unknown.
b. There is implication of a deliberate inventor.
2. What four criteria did the author use to choose his list of inventions?
a. Has to revolutionize the world
b. Must surpass importance
c. Each invention must be a direct outcome of evolution by natural selection
d. Must be iconic in some capacity
3. The author argues that molecular technology can reveal evolutionary insights beyond gene sequence or fossil
data. What example does he use to illustrate this point?
a. Gives the example of an enzyme to reveal that the function of it remains the same after so millions of
years, something that gene sequencing and fossil data could never reveal.
Chapter 1: Origins of Life
1. Why can’t we ever really know how life truly began on Earth?
a. Despite hypothetical tests that can manifest bugs from swirling chemicals, we’ll never truly know that
happened all those years ago, or if the experiment yields what happened 4 million years ago.
2. Describe the Miller-Urey experiment. Why was it important for hypotheses concerning the origin of life? What
are some weaknesses with it?
a. Miller-urey put natural gasses and electrified it in a large flask, and after a few months the composition
within showed signs of early life, “primordial soup”. Biggest weakness was assuming the gasses that
were present in early Earth, which were later disproven by the rock analysis.
3. Describe the first deep-sea alternative model to the Urey-Miller experiment for how life may have originated,
and weaknesses with this alternative model.
a. The deep-sea alternative is that the hot vents deep in the sea have a strong diversity of life that must be
where life originated. Weaknesses in this alternative is that our mechanisms of oxygen utilization
needed time to evolve, and that relied on the oxygen rich environment in the surface. It is also not the
inherent source of energy that they utilize
4. How do “white smokers” differ from black smokers, and what problems from previous models for the origins of
life do they solve?
a. White smokers are composed of alkaline channels as opposed to the acidic black plume that black
smokers are. It solves the unresolved problem of the origin of life because the alkaline nature of these
vents serve as a hatchery for life.
5. Why is the Krebs cycle of importance to scientists studying the origins of life?
a. It’s important for scientists studying the origins of life because the Krebs cycle can produce building
blocks of life by going backwards.
6. Why do biochemists Bill Martin and Mike Russell care about a molecule called acetyl thioester?
a. The molecule, once reacted with carbon found in the alkaline vents, can lead to the formation of more
complex organic molecules.
7. What is chemiosmosis, and why is it thought to be important to the origins of life?
a. The proton gradient that chemiosmosis creates allows us to have spare ATP left in order to grow and
evolve out of the vents.
Chapter 2 – DNA: The Code of Life
1. Who were James Watson and Francis Crick, and what did they discover?
a. They were the physicists/biochemists that discovered the double helical structure of DNA
2. Describe several of the wrong ideas that were proposed for how genes might code for proteins.
a. Overlapping code, believing the anticodons sat and waited in the cytosol.
3. Why did Francis Crick conclude that the genetic code was “accidental”? What have scientists discovered since
the 1980’s about the genetic code, which suggests it may not be “accidental” after all – in other words, what do
each of the letters mean in the triplet codon?
a. he believes that life was somehow “seeded” but in the lens of biosynthesis it’s believed that the
genetic code is universal and has evolved incrementally without destroying the code by means of
frequency of code (some are used more than others).
4. Why do Lawrence Hurst and Stephen Freeland argue that the genetic code is definitely not an arbitrary
accident?
a. They found that the genetic code is resistant to change.
5. Why are origins of life scientists interested in the properties of RNA?
a. Because RNA is believed to be the origin of life based on its properties of DNA storing and because it
can catalyze certain reactions.
6. Mike Russell, Dieter Brown and colleagues hypothesized that RNA molecules first formed from what source?
a. They believed that RNA molecules first formed in the hydrothermal vents.
7. What problems does replicating RNA create for itself, and how does the hydrothermal vent environment solve
this?
a. RNA replication is prone for errors and slow moving reactions. The hydrothermal vents provide a
mineral rich, hot atmosphere that catalyzes reactions and prevents RNA from degrading.
8. Why is it thought that the mechanism of DNA replication evolved *after* the genetic code and protein
synthesis?
a. Based on the complexity of DNA replication it is thought that the genetic code and protein synthesis
evolved first to lay the foundation for DNA replication.
9. Describe Bill Martin and Eugene Koonin’s “life cycle” of early RNA life in a mineral cell, which is similar to that of
retroviruses such as HIV.
a. DNA replication evolved twice. Similar to HIV because it encodes RNA instead of DNA.

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Intro, Ch1, Ch2

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Name: Daniel Martinez________________________

BIO 3530 Evolution

Chapter 1: Origins of Life

Chapter 2 – DNA: The Code of Life

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