Evolution biochemical

Still more confusion plagued early researches, when it was not realized that the biosynthetic routes to thiamine in prokaryotes and eukaryotes are quite different, a fact not expected at the outset. Thus, evidence collected from the study of yeast could not be transposed to bacteria, and vice-versa. For instance, formate is a most efficient precursor of one of the carbon atoms of the pyrimidine part of thiamine (pyramine), both in yeasts and enterobacteria, but incorporates at C-2 in bacteria and at C-4 in yeast. However, as is briefly covered in Section VIII, this dichotomy of pathways might have a deep significance in the perspective of biochemical evolution during primitive life on Earth. 

Singer, T. P. In Biochemical Evolution and the Origin of Life, p. 203 edited by Schoffeniels, E. Amsterdam North Holland 1971. 

Plankensteiner K, Reiner H, Schranz B, Rode MB (2004) Angew Chem 116 1922, Int Ed 42 1886 Ponamperuma C, Sagan C, Mariner R (1963) Nature 199 222 Press F, Siver R (1994) Understanding Earth, Freeman and Company, NewYork Pullman B (1972) Electronic Factors in biochemical evolution. In Ponnamperuna C (Ed.) Exobiology. North Holland Publishing Company, Amsterdam London, p 140 Raulin F (2000) Orig Life Evol Biosphere 30 116 Reid C, Orgel (1967) Nature 216 216... 

Cornish-Bowden, A. (2004). The Pursuit of Perfection Aspects of Biochemical Evolution. Oxford University Press, Oxford... 

Cairns-Smith, A. G. (1977). Takeover mechanisms and early biochemical evolution. 

RNA Synthesis Offers Important Clues to Biochemical Evolution... 

One of the first scientists to devote his career to biochemical evolution was I. V. Oparin, who... 

Florkin, M. (1949) Biochemical Evolution, Academic Press, New York... 

Biochemical evolution refers to changes over geologic time of the fundamental composition of organic components—e.g., the sequence of amino acids in protein molecules. The best documented example of biochemical evolution is that of the respiratory pigment haemoglobin, and the relation of its evolution to the fossil record has been summarized recently (58). Many of the monographs on comparative biochemistry have discussed biochemical evolution (59, 60, 61), and the reader is... 

Comparative biochemistry. Some researchers believe that the proper role of comparative biochemistry is to put evolution on a molecular basis, and that detoxication enzymes, like other enzymes, are suitable subjects for study. Xenobiotic-metabolizing enzymes were probably essential in the early stages of animal evolution because secondary plant products, even those of low toxicity, are frequently lipophilic and as a consequence would, in the absence of such enzymes, accumulate in lipid membranes and lipid depots. The evolution of cytochrome P450 isoforms, with more than 2000 isoform cDNA sequences known, is proving a useful tool for the study of biochemical evolution. 

Verzhbinskaya, N.A. (1968). Biochemical evolution of enzyme systems as the base of functional evolution of vertebrate animals (In Russian). In Abiogenesis and Primary Stages of the Evolution of Life (A.I. Oparin ed.), pp.169-180, Nauka, Moscow. 

Nonenzymic transphosphorylation catalyzed by divalent metal ions may have been the prototype reaction for the biochemical evolution of those enzymes which utilise the free energy of hydrolysis of ATP to drive chemical transformation. 

Whatever the outcome one can be sure that a physical contact type selection has led to the genomic code. Not only does the new hypothesis predict such contact, the status of evolution as a discipline of science depends upon it. Frozen accidents are not the stuff of hypotheses but more likely failures of insight. This means that the principle of code development is discoverable and with it, slowly to be sure, the whole mechanism of biochemical evolution. 

Wilson AC, Carlson SS, White TJ. Biochemical evolution. Annual review of biochemistry 1977 46 573. 

Schidlowski M. (1987) Application of stable carbon isotopes to early biochemical evolution on Earth. Annual Review Earth Planet. Sci. IS, 47-72. 

The essential possible interference of purine tautomerism in biochemistry and, in particular, in biochemical evolution concerns, as mentioned in the introduction to this chapter, its possible role in mutagenesis. This could occur through the mispairing of the bases when present in rare tautomeric forms. 

During a computer search for books on biochemical evolution, you come across a number of juicy titles. For example, a book by John... 

The differential solubilities exhibited by biomolecules thus should be appreciated as one of the most important aspects of the effects of water on living systems. Differential solubility is a critical principle in much of biochemical evolution, and it is a principle that is manifested in a number of contexts of adaptation to the environment. This is seen particularly clearly in the evolution of proteins in the face of different chemical and physical conditions. The amino acids selected to construct a particular protein reflect a finely tuned process that results in the generation of an appropriate three-dimensional structure and a correct balance between structural stability and flexibility—a balance termed marginal stability—that is essential for protein function. The marginal stability of the protein will be seen to be the consequence of complementary adaptations in the protein... 

Jeuniaux, C. In Biochemical Evolution and Origin of Life Shoffeniels, E., Ed. North-Holland Amsterdam, ly/1. 

Many chemotaxonomic studies have been published that consists of lists of phytochemical data, but a significant number of studies are now appearing that probe such questions as the genetics of terpenoid formation, hybridization and clonal variation, and biochemical evolution. Reviews have appeared on the chemotaxonomy of flowering plants,435 and of terpenoid formation in particular,436 on chemistry in botanical classification,437 on leaf oils of conifers,438 and on biochemical evolution in plants 439 the last named is comprehensive and quite outstanding. 

---