Ben Gurion University

The National Institute of Biotechnology Ben-Gurion University of the Negev PO.B.653 Beer-Sheva 84105 Israel,... 

G. Zambon" Chemistry Research Institute, Italy Dead Sea Bromine Group, Israel Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel University de Paris VII - C.N.R.S., France Tel Aviv University, Israel University College of Swansea, UK Concordia University, Canada University de Louvain, Belgium The Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel... 

On leave from the Department of Chemistry, Ben Gurion University, Beer Sheva, Israel... 

The wide gap between the two opposing theories, replication first and metabolism first , was analysed by Pross from the Ben Gurion University of the Negev (Israel). Pross concludes that replication came first He is convinced that a causality between the two theories can only be established if it is assumed that the replication-first thesis is correct. His analysis also shows that more of the experimental results and theoretical rationales favour the replication thesis. The author finds his assumption justified that life processes are strongly kinetically controlled and that the development of metabolic pathways can only be understood if life is considered as a manifestation of replicative chemistry (Pross, 2004). 

Faculty of Applied Sciences, Free University of Brussels, Room 8G512, Pleinlaan 2, B-1050 Brussels, Belgium Institutes for Applied Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva 84110, Israel... 

Department of Chemical Engineering, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, P. O. Box... 

Department of Chemical Engineering, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, P. O. Box 653, Beer-Sheva 84105, Israel. Fax +9-72-8647-2969 e-mail zabicky bgu.ac.il... 

The author wishes to thank Professors James Y. Becker of Ben-Gurion University and Tsutomu Nonaka of Tokyo Institute of Technology for encouraging him to write this chapter. Last but not least, he is grateful to Miss Motoko Miyazaki, his graduate student, who assisted in preparing the manuscript. 

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