The Next Three Lectures Will Cover

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Teach Evolution! Learn Science!
Molecular Evolution MB437 and Advances in
Molecular Evolution MB537
From the Big Bang to Bioinformatics From the
primordial soup to Bioethics
Fall, 2008, Tu/Th 11-1215 Lewis Hall 110
Who Professor Marcie McClure
mars_at_parvati.msu.montana.edu 994-7370
Text Fundamentals of Molecular Evolution by Li
and Grauer
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What did we cover on Tuesday?
Where did the elements come from? Star are the
carbon of the Universe. Star death is the source
of all life. The ratios of compounds in
organisms and interstellar objects are about the
same.
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MOLECULAR EVOLUTION MB437 and ADVANCES IN
MOLECULAR EVOLUTION MB537 SYLLABUS Lecture 1
8/28/07 Comments. Organization
Introduction Lecture 2 8/30/07
Evolution the Big Picture Lecture 3 9/4/07
The BIG BANG and formation of the elements
necessary for life. Lecture 4 9/6/07
Biogenesis I The primitive earth and the
prebiotic soup. Lecture 5 9/11/07
Biogenesis II Self-assembly, Energetics and
Bioinformational Molecules. Lecture 6 9/13/07
Biogenesis III Protein or Nucleic Acids first?
RNA or DNA? Lecture 7 9/18/07
open discussion Lecture 8 9/20/07 The RNA
world the three Domains of life and LUCA or
LUCC. Lecture 9 9/25/07 Origin of the
Genetic Code and more on LUCC Lecture 10
9/27/07 Genomes Content and Architecture Lectur
e 11 10/2/07 Mutation nucleotide substitutions
and amino acid replacements. Lecture 12 10/4/07
Methods Analyzing sequences rates/patterns. Lect
ure 13 10/09/07 mid-term I????? Lecture 14
10/11/07 open discussion Lecture 15 10/16/07
Molecular Phylogeny I History, terms,
definitions, and limits. Lecture 16 10/18/07
Molecular Phylogeny II How to determine a
phylogenetic tree. Lecture 17 10/23/07
Molecular Phylogeny III Improvements and
Extensions to Genome Trees. Lecture 18 10/25/07
WHATS NEW? Bayesian and HMM Approaches to
phylogenetic reconstruction. Lecture 19 10/30/07
Deviation from Tree-like behavior horizontal
transmission of information. Lecture 20 11/1/07
mid-term II????? Lecture 21 11/6/07
Convergent Evolution the antifreeze
story. Lecture 22 11/8/07 Evolution of
Viruses. Lecture 23 11/13/07 Retroid
Agents eukaryotic hosts and disease
states. Lecture 24 11/15/07 Do viral RNA
polymerases share ancestry? Lecture 25 11/20/07
Bioethics of the Human Genome Project/
Introduction to Bioinformatics. 11/21-23/07 THA
NKSGIVING HOLIDAY Lecture 26 11/27/07 Lecture
27 11/29/07 Lecture 28 12/4/07 Lecture 29
12/6/07
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Levels of Evolution
Particulate
Galactic
Stellar
Planetary
Chemical
Biological
Cultural
THE FUTURE
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The Next Three Lectures Will Cover
Speculation and research on the origin of life.

• There are three approaches to the study of the
  origin of life

From small to large--chemical approach
From the complex to simple--biological approach
Geological approach--most recent data
B) We will cover five stages

• The early earth environment
• Prebiotic chemistry
• Energetics
• Self-assembly processes
• Bioinformational molecules

C) Structure of the arguments
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The arguments supporting the plausibility of the
occurrence of biogenesis are based on three
principles

• The principle of continuity Models or ideas
  which present a continuous evolutionary pathway
  from proposed origins to the current
  evolutionary life forms are more plausible than
  models that are gapped or discontinuous between
  the origin and the current evolved form.
• 2) The principle of ubiquity Ubiquitous
  conditions are more plausible than specialized
  cases, unless the special case is in some way
  fundamental.
• 3) The principle of robustness Robust models
  should be fairly independent of precise
  environmental conditions.
• Plausible models of biogenesis should include
• 1) the synthetic process
• 2) concentration mechanisms
• 3) degradation mechanisms

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The Hadean period Hell on Earth
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Microfossils from the Apex Chert, North Pole,
Australia. These organisms are Archean in age,
approximately 3.465 billion years old, and
resemble filamentous prokaryotes.
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What was going on during the Archean period?
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Image of Sharks Bay, Australia extant
stromatolites, a cross section of one of these
structures, and a closeup of the cyanobacteria
that make up the bulk of the feature.
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Tiny, tiny Martians? In a Martian meteorite,
patches of carbonate some 50 micrometers across
harbor putative fossils like this half-micrometer
tube-like structural form.
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Basic questions regarding the primitive
environment 1) What was the prebiotic
chemistry? 2) What is the accretion process? 3)
What was the temperature like in the prebiotic
environment? 4) Where did biogenesis take place?
Necessary and sufficient components for
biogenesis 1) nitrogen, hydrogen, carbon, and
a little oxygen 2) reasonable temperature
range 3) some energy 4) a marine environment
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Sugar-Phosphate Bond
Glycosidic Bond
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A Plausible Scenario???
Lets imagine 1) a dilute seawater solution of 2)
the components (aas, carbs, purines, pyrimidines,
phosphates, and fatty acids) 3) existed on a lava
surface in an intertidal zone 4) subject to a
drying and wetting cycle 5) then sodium chloride
would precipitate organic anions 6) a variety of
covalent bonds would form between all functional
groups by condensation reactions
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