Prebiotic Darwinism

In all simulation experiments carried out under assumed prebiotic conditions, the question of possible concentrations in a primeval ocean arises 0.1 M solutions appear unrealistic, as this would correspond to about 12 g of amino acid per litre of seawater Miller s lagoons and Darwin s ponds then come to mind, i.e., the concentration of dilute solutions in small localized areas due to evaporation of water. Recently, the attention of scientists has shifted towards concentration processes occurring at the surface of minerals however, many of the problems involved remain unsolved. 

This was about the same time that Darwin himself thought of a naturalistic view of the origin of life remember his little warm pond full of salts and other good ingredients, which later on would become the famous prebiotic soup However, Darwin didn t think too much about the origin of life. Some of the contemporary scientists who popularized his views, however, did it for him, most notably Ernst Hackel, who stressed that there is no difference in quality between the inanimate and the animate world Anorgane and Organismen) and that therefore there is a natural and continuous flux from the one to the other (Hackel, 1866). This very continuity principle was also advocated clearly by Friedrich Rolle (Rolle, 1863 Fryer, 1880). 

The location. In the past, the suggestions have varied from Darwin s warm little pond to the global ocean as a gigantic prebiotic soup. Three sites have received special attention recently hydrothermal deep-sea vents51 and mounds52 and the ocean-atmosphere interface.53,54... 

Importantly, salt-induced peptide formation could provide an abiotic route for the formation of peptides directly from amino acids in concentrated NaCl solutions containing copper ions. Montmorillonite and similar minerals apparently promote the condensation reaction that could have taken place in evaporating tidal pools -Darwin s warm little ponds - where the required salty brine solutions were easily available. Obviously, this is a likely and hence a credible prebiotic scenario. There might a pearl hidden beneath muddy waters. Besides, it is fascinating to assume that the primitive enolase enzyme known to be a highly conserved ancient enzyme could have evolved in an RNA-peptide world. Enolase catalyzes the for enantio-selective carbon-carbon bond addition of water to phosphoenol pyruvate to yield D-2-phospho-glycerate. 

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