The Origin and Evolution of

Life on Earth
(Chapter 6)

A. chemoheterotrophs
 Searching for clues to the origin of life on
Earth: when?
• Geologic and fossil records increasingly incomplete as we go
further back in time.
• To start with, when did life first exist on Earth?
• 3 lines of evidence to consider:
1. Stromatolites
2. Microfossils
3. Isotopic evidence

How did life begin is

another matter!
6.2
 1. Stromatolites
• Stromatolites (“rock beds”) are distinctively layered rocks.
• Modern “living stromatolites” resemble “mats” of living
microbes interweaved with sediments.
• Uppermost microbes use photosynthesis to generate
energy. The mats grow with increasing sediment deposits.

6.3
 1. Stromatolites (cont.)
• Some controversy re: a geologic origin to stromatolites but
variety and commonality of modern mats and stromatolites
suggest a strong biologic connection .
• If correct, stromatolites date life to at least 3.5 Gyr ago.
• Photosynthesis (a complex energy generating process)
suggests that a more primitive form of life (less complex
energy utilization process) must predate stromatolites.

6.4
6.5
 2. Microfossils
• Not surprisingly, confirming the
existence of an ancient
microfossil given all of the erosion
with time is difficult, indeed
controversial.
• Strong, almost irrefutable
evidence of microfossils dating
~3.0 Gyr ago.
• Less concrete evidence suggests
that microfossils date ~3.5 Gyr
ago.

6.6
 3. Isotopic evidence
• Life tends to assimilate carbon-12 atoms more easily than
the carbon-13 isotope.
• Thus measuring the ratio of carbon-12 to carbon-13 for
inorganic environments (rocks) gives a “baseline” and can
be compared to environments where life is suspected.
• Higher carbon-12 to carbon-13 ratios for suspected
microfossils in Greenland date to 3.85 billion years ago.

6.7
 Conclusion
• If the evidence discussed successfully withstands further
scrutiny then life with a significant degree of sophistication
was widespread on Earth by 3.8 billion years ago.
• Simpler forms of life had to exist earlier in the Hadean Eon.
• Thus IF Earth and its formation environment are typical, life
could be relatively common on other exoplanets.

6.8
 What did ancient life look like?
• Comparing the genomes of different organisms should help
to reconstruct the evolutionary history of life on Earth.
• Better mapping of the bases in an organism`s DNA is
tough but is being done across a wide spectrum of
organisms (the Tree of Life). Hopefully this will lead us to a
clearer picture of what primitive life “looked like”!

6.9
 Where did life originate on Earth?
• No oxygen (or ozone O3) in the early primordial
atmosphere. Thus initially harsh ultraviolet radiation
environment.
• Seems likely that life originated in water, probably at
some depth as water offers UV protection. Puddles or
oceans?
• Near underwater volcanic vents where energy and
chemicals are abundant seems the most likely possibility
for the development of early life.

Black smokers
(hydrothermal
vent) 6.10
 Needed: Simple Organic Chemicals

• The first thing we need for life to arise is certain: simple

organic chemicals. These may have manifested
themselves in different ways:
1. Near the surface of Earth (via Miller-Urey type
interactions: the Miller-Urey experiment was an
attempt to recreate conditions of Earth’s primordial
atmosphere, including sources of energy)
2. Deep within the oceans of Earth (near sub-surface
volcanos)
3. From space (meteorites, etc.)

6.11
 Miller-Urey experiment
• A series of flasks of water containing methane and ammonia
were heated. A feedback cycle was orchestrated (water
vapour then condensation to liquid). Electric sparks
(discharges simulating lightning) were introduced.
• After a week or so, the water turned murky and amino acids
and other organic compounds were found to exist.
• The biggest challenge is knowing the actual conditions
present in the Earth’s early atmosphere.

http://www.chem.duke.edu
/~jds/cruise_chem/Exobiol
ogy/Pmilurey.gif
6.12
 From outer space?
• Early in Earth’s history our planet was heavily bombarded
by asteroids and comets.
• Both of these objects are known to carry amino acids and
other organic chemicals, and we know from current
examples (e.g., recent falls like the Murchison meteorite)
that such complex molecules can survive to the surface.
• Panspermia is the relocation of life from elsewhere in the
universe to Earth.
• We know organic molecules are common elsewhere in the
universe.
• Such molecules can survive in the harsh environment of
space. Can life?
• Transport arranged via meteorites, comets and the like.
6.13
 Can life survive this type of
transition/transport?
• For life to be “seeded” in this way, it must survive 3
specific events:
1. The initial impact on the planet from which the
meteorite originated
2. Passage through the harsh space environment
3. Impact on Earth
• For items 1 and 3, the answer seems “sure”. The rock
material offers good protection to the molecules (life) and
we already know of the resilience of life in adverse
conditions.
• With respect to travelling in space: as long as the time is
modest (millions of years or less) we expect the
molecules (life) to survive.
6.14
 The implications of panspermia
• While the possible migration of life “across the stars” is
unlikely due to the length of time involved (life could not
survive a long exposure to the harsh space environment), the
possibility within the solar system seems high.
• As we cannot be sure of the primordial Earth’s actual
environment, Mars or Venus may have been able to spawn
life first and it migrated to Earth before life developed here.

ALH 84001, a Mars

meteorite found in
Antarctica in 1984.
6.15
 Abiogenesis
• Term for how life starts from the basic organic chemicals
present in an environment.
• Fundamental unsolved question about life; there are several
possibilities currently being considered.
• When does chemistry stop and biology start?
• For life to first emerge, we need to go from the simple
chemicals that would have been present when Earth first
formed to the simple cells containing either RNA or DNA.
• It seems likely that RNA came first, and DNA was a later
more complex development. (This is sometimes referred to
as the RNA World hypothesis)

6.16
 The RNA World

• Early amino acids (the RNA bases) would have to join

into longer chains (polymerization)
• Major roadblocks have been to determine how exactly
these bases could have formed, but recent work has
suggested a possible way.
• Nucleotide bases will naturally join and form chains
when certain conditions exist. The chains become
longer and can begin to create peptide chains - the
start of proteins.
• RNA can also act as an enzyme: a ribozyme, and can
act as its own catalyst.

6.17
 Proteins First?
• Proteins and/or RNA could have been
catalyzed by the amino acids collecting on the
surfaces of clay that would occur at a lake or
ocean shore
• Being attached to the clay surface slightly
changes the properties of the amino acids or
nucleotides making it easier for them to join into
the long chains that can become proteins or
RNA
• This could have produced the first early
proteins or RNA. Because we do not know the
exact conditions on early Earth, this may be
difficult to ever verify though we can reproduce
this type of reaction in laboratory conditions.
6.18
Clays date back to 4.4 billion years ago.
 Life’s container – the cell wall (membrane)
• The other important structure for life is the cell wall
(membrane).
• The simplest cell containers may have arisen from different
chemicals that formed a shell or surface when they were
concentrated enough.
• Such “pre-cells” or vesicles improved the possibility of RNA
generation and thus replication.
• This eventually led to RNA formation and other chemical
processes being separated from the outside environment.
• These would make up the simplest proto-cells we would first
recognize as life

6.19
 In summary …
• Organic molecules form
• RNA forms (on clays?) as do pre-cells (vesicles)
• RNA replicates in the pre-cells
• Complexity increases to form life
• DNA evolves

6.20
 Evolutionary history on Earth
1. Simple, anaerobic (no oxygen) organisms that developed
rapidly in complexity shortly after Earth formed.
Diversification led to development of DNA.
Photosynthesis present by 3.5 Gyr ago. This generated
some oxygen in the atmosphere and thus aerobic
organisms dominated by 2.5 Gyr ago.
2. Science has organized life into 3 domains (based upon
biochemistry). These domains represent the 3 major
cellular types (the Tree of Life):
– Bacteria (cells with no nucleus),
– Archea (extremophiles) and
– Eukarya (cells with a nucleus)
6.21
Looking for the “root”

6.22
 Evolutionary history on Earth

• Bacteria are single-cell organisms that have no nucleus.

• Early life was in the form of single cell organisms that
reproduced only by cell division. This meant that
evolution tended to happen very slowly.
• The Archea also seem to have arisen fairly early and did
have some structures in common with both other groups.
Most interestingly for the search for life is the fact that
most of this group live in extreme conditions (very salty
water, very high temperatures, methane atmospheres
etc. )

6.23
 Evolutionary history on Earth
• The eukaryotes are the cells which contain a nucleus.
They seem to have appeared/evolved much later perhaps
2.1 – 2.5 Gyr ago.
• This is also the domain which include all multi-cellular
organisms. This includes “us” (humans). These multi-
cellular organisms only date back to 1.2 Gyr or so.
• The Eukarya are the only forms of life capable of more
complex reproductive strategies.
• Although some eukaryotes reproduce by cellular splitting,
many in this group also can reproduce using sexual
reproduction.
• Sexual reproduction led to a huge increase in the diversity
of life and the rate of evolution due to the genetic mixing
that occurred.
6.24
 Evolutionary history on Earth
3. Microbial life alone inhabited the planet until about 2.5
Gyr ago but by 1.2 Gyr ago, animal life became prolific.
Around 542 Myr ago, at the beginning of the Cambrian
Era, in a span of about 40 Myr, a literal explosion of
diversity in animals occurred.

• Why the explosion 542 Myr ago (and only then, not since)?
– the oxygen level reached current levels.
– climate change in general spurred change
– genetic diversification “came of age”
– predator efficiency was lacking

6.25
 Evolutionary history on Earth
4. Microbial life likely on land as well as in the oceans
throughout time. But the oceans remained the cradle of
life until well after the Cambrian explosion. Likely the
existence of the ozone layer (for UV protection) was a
key reason. Plants appear in the fossil record on land
some 475 million years ago.
• Within 75 million years, amphibians and insects were
eating plant life on land.
• At the beginning of the Carboniferous Era, 360 million
years ago, large scale forests and abundant insect life
were present.

6.26
 Evolutionary history on Earth

• We need to look at the oxygen levels in our atmosphere a

little more closely.
• Highly oxidizing element (e.g., rust, food discolouration, etc).
Removes oxygen from the atmosphere
• Essential for the development of atmospheric ozone (O3).
• Oxygen needs to be replenished, constantly.
• Oxygen generated by blue-green algae (cyanobacteria).
• Certainly oxygen production (from the Fossil record) by 2.7
billion years ago, likely somewhat earlier.
• Nearly 2 billion years to reach current levels (Cambrian
explosion?)
• Why so slow is not clear.
6.27
 Evolutionary history on Earth
• The “great oxidation event” occurred about 2.35 billion
years ago. However, we cannot be certain that current
levels of oxygen in our atmosphere (about 20%)
occurred until only 200 million years ago! This is when
we see charcoal in the geologic record.
• Lots of work remain in unraveling and clarifying this
timeline.

6.28
 Recent developments
• By 245 million years ago, reptiles roamed the Earth’s surface.
• Dinosaur domination followed by mammals is clearly
documented in the fossil record.
• At 65 million years ago, the dominance of the dinosaur ceased
abruptly. Why?
• In the geologic record 65 million years ago, at the so called
boundary (in time) between the Cretaceous and Tertiary
Periods, dinosaur fossils literally disappeared.
• The most likely cause is an extinction event on a global scale
that arose from an impact from space.

6.29
 Barringer Meteor Crater
• This event (Barringer Meteor Crater) occurred 50,000
years ago and was created by a meteorite some 50 meters
in diameter (mostly iron)
• The crater is about 1 km across
• The impact delivered an equivalent explosive energy of
about 20 megatons!

6.30
 The K-T boundary
• In 1978, Luis and Walter Alvarez found a distinct
sedimentary deposit rich in iridium in the geologic record
between the Cretaceous and Tertiary Periods, the so
called K-T boundary.
• The sediment is found world wide!
• Iridium is relatively rare on Earth but much more common
in meteorites.

6.31
 Impact? Mass Extinction?
• The extinction theory suggests a comet or small asteroid
some 10 km in diameter hit Earth 65 million years ago
depositing iridium into the geologic record.
• Note that it was not just the dinosaurs that vanished from
Earth: 99% of all plants and animals died and 75% of all
plant and animal species were driven into extinction.
• While other factors may have influenced the mass extinction
revealed in the geologic record, evidence for the impact
comes in many forms:
– High abundances of iridium, osmium, gold and platinum
in the K-T sediment.
– Shocked quartz
– Spherical droplets of molten rock
– Soot (from forest fires)
6.32
Where is the
crater?
A 200 km diameter
crater off the
Yucatan Peninsula
(called Chicxulub)
has been found.
Its age offers
compelling
evidence that is the
crater that caused
the extinction of
the dinosaurs.

6.33
 Ramifications of impact
• Enormous energy release that deposited significant
material into the atmosphere, encircling the planet and
plunging Earth into global winter.
• Immediate tsunami and global fires, intense heat and
“raining” hot rocks.
• Longer term, reduced sunlight, reduced photosynthesis
and huge impact on the food chain.
• Mammals rose to dominance. In a very real sense, we
would not exist if not for the extinction of the dinosaurs.

6.34
 Extinction events not uncommon

Statistical analyses of the fossil record show that there

have been other massive periodic extinctions every
~100 Myr 6.35
 Other causes for extinction
• Volcanic eruptions that deliver a significant quantity of dust
into the atmosphere.
• Climate change (the “sick Earth” theory)
• Mutation rate change arising from increased ultraviolet light
exposure (ozone).
• Magnetic pole reversal resulting in less magnetic field
strength and thus more particle bombardment on the
surface.

6.36
 Other causes for extinction
• Proximity to a supernova explosion and its release of high
energy electromagnetic radiation (X-rays, etc.).
• Impact of gamma ray bursts on the Earth, particularly our
atmospheric ozone layer.
• It is a dangerous universe. Remember these events as they
factor into our discussion of life’s ability to survive in the
galaxy as a whole.

6.37
 Imminent danger?
• Meteors enter the earth’s atmosphere daily adding nearly
20,000 tons of material annually. Little danger posed.
• Events like Tunguska (1908) are perhaps once a century
in frequency and these can cause localized damage.
• Events such as Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 have the
potential to cause great devastation every few million
years.
• The threat is real but not entirely predictable.

6.38
 Chelyabinsk Meteorite 2013:
Frame grab from a video of the Feb. 15,
2013 Russian fireball by Aleksandr Ivanov

6.39
6.40
 Humans
• Humans did not evolve from
gorillas or any other modern
ape.
• Rather we are all primates
and share a common
(extinct) ancestor that dates
back about 8 million years
ago.
• Human evolution in this
ensuing time is quite
complex (and beyond what
we need to explore in this
course).
6.41
Modern humans (Homo sapiens) unique
since 12,000 years ago!

6.42
 Final thoughts
• Only 2% difference in human genome compared to the
chimpanzees. Subtle changes seemingly make a big
difference.
• Is intelligence (as defined as building a civilization such as
ours) inevitable? Chimpanzees have been on Earth as long
as we have.
• Cultural and technological evolution advancing at a very
rapid pace! We remember our history! (and learn from it?)
• It would seem that (simple) life developed early on Earth.
• However, the level of oxygen and the explosion/
diversification of large organisms did not occur until quite
recently.
• Was Earth lucky or unlucky with this late development?
6.43