Research Catalog

Title

The origins of life on the earth [by] Stanley L. Miller [and] Leslie E. Orgel.

Author

Miller, Stanley L., 1930-

Publication

Englewood Cliffs, N.J., Prentice-Hall [1974]

Items in the Library & Off-site

Holdings

Details

Additional Authors

Orgel, Leslie E.,

Description

x, 229 p. illus.; 23 cm.

Series Statement

Concepts of modern biology series

Uniform Title

Concepts of modern biology series.

Subject

• Biochemistry
• Geology
• Life > Origin
• Life > Origin
• Origin of Life

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references.

Contents

• I. Introduction : General references to the origin of life -- II. The formation of the solar system : The origin of the earth's atmosphere -- III. Geological evidence : The geological time scale ; The age of the earth ; The age of the moon ; The geological periods -- IV. The composition of the primitive atmosphere : The present oxidizing atmosphere ; The reducing atmosphere in the absence of an ocean ; The escape of hydrogen from the atmosphere ; The primitive atmosphere and ocean and their interaction ; Evolution of the atmosphere ; Carbon monoxide ; Nitrogen in the primitive atmosphere ; Oxygen in the atmosphere -- V. Sources of energy -- VI. Nature of biology : The enzymes and other proteins ; Nucleic acids ; Protein synthesis ; Metabolism ; Membranes ; Mutation and natural selection -- VII. Prebiotic synthesis of amino acids, urea, fatty acids, porphyrins, and vitamins : The synthesis of amino acids ; The Strecker synthesis ; Synthesis from hydrogen cyanide ; Other amino acid syntheses ; Urea ; Synthesis from hydrogen cyanide, Fischer-Tropsch synthesis ; Fatty acids ; Porphyrins ; Nicotinamide and its derivatives -- VIII. Prebiotic synthesis of purines, pyrimidines, and nucleosides : Synthesis of purines ; Synthesis of pyrimidines ; Sugars ; Nucleoside synthesis
• IX. Stability of organic compounds and the temperature of the primitive ocean : Amino acids ; Fatty acids ; Sugars ; Purines, pyrimidines, and nucleosides ; The hydrolysis of polypeptides and polynucleotides ; The temperature of the primitive ocean -- X. Concentration mechanisms -- XI. Dehydration reactions and polymerizations : Chemical condensations ; Thermal synthesis ; Thermal synthesis of polypeptides ; Other condensation mechanisms ; Reactions of the aminoacyl phosphates on clays -- XII. From random polymers to the most primitive organism : Life based on proteins alone ; Life based on nucleic acids without a protein code ; Template synthesis ; Life based on nucleic acids and proteins ; The evolution of the details of the genetic code -- XIII. Optical activity -- XIV. Biochemical evolution : Primitive organisms and primitive biochemistry ; A model for biochemical evolution ; The evolution of intermediary metabolism -- XV. Meteorites, comets, interstellar molecules and life on other planets : Meteorites ; Comets ; The moon ; Molecules in interstellar space ; Life in our solar system ; Life on mars ; Life outside the solar system -- XVI. Summary and outstanding problems.

ISBN

0136420826 0136420745 (pbk.)

LCCN

^^^73008651^

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library