Zeitschrift für Astrobiologie und Öffentlichkeitsarbeit

Abstrakt

How did Life Begin? A Review of the Environmental and Biomolecular Hypotheses Surrounding Abiogenesis

Emily Moise

Abiogenesis is the scientific theory that all life evolved from no life and is widely agreed to be correct. However, there are debating schools of thought about how and where life was initially synthesised, and what the first biomolecule was. This literature review will analyse the scientific papers and journals relating to these theories in order to discuss how probable they are. It will also compare different theories, as the environment may affect which biomolecule was first synthesised. It will also discuss external factors, such as meteorites, and how they influence the hypotheses. The environments under review are deep-sea vents, primordial soups and celestial bodies; and the biomolecules discussed are RNA and Proteins. This review will also touch on whether metabolism came about before the biomolecules of life. From analysis of the literature, it seems likely that RNA was the initial biomolecule. It must, however, be mentioned that this review cannot come to a clear conclusion in answer to the question ‘how did life begin?’, as we cannot know for sure the environmentf primitive earth.