Thermophiles : The Keys to the Molecular Evolution and the Origin of Life?

"Late-1990s developments in the study of thermophiles have had considerable significance on theories of evolution. These micro-organisms are able to thrive at temperatures near or even above 100 degrees Celsius, and scientists have begun to study their biology in an attempt to provide clues about the beginnings of life on our planet. Researchers from diverse background such as biology, genetics, biogeochemistry, oceanography, systematics and evolution come together in this comprehensive volume to address questions such as: Why did life originate? Was the Earth at high temperatures when life began, and if so, how high? What can we conclude about the origins of life from studying thermophilic organisms?"--Provided by publisher Book Cover......Page 1 Title......Page 4 Contents......Page 5 Preface page......Page 14 Contributors......Page 18 The Early Earth......Page 22 Do the Geological and Geochemical Records of the Early Earth Support the Prediction from Global Phylogenetic Models of a Thermophilic Cenancestor?......Page 24 The Early Diversification of Life and the Origin of the Three Domains: A Proposal......Page 40 Life was Thermophilic for the First Two-thirds of Earth History......Page 54 The Origin of Life......Page 66 The Case for a Hyperthermophilic, Chemolithoautotrophic Origin of Life in an Iron-Sulfur World......Page 68 The Emergence of Metabolism from Within Hydrothermal Systems......Page 80 The Emergence of Life from FeS Bubbles at Alkaline Hot Springs in an Acid Ocean......Page 98 Facing Up to Chemical Realities: Life Did Not Begin at the Growth Temperatures of Hyperthermophiles......Page 148 Nucleic Acid-based Phylogenies......Page 156 Were our Ancestors Actually Hyperthermophiles? Viewpoint of a Devil's Advocate......Page 158 Hyperthermophilic and Mesophilic Origins of the Eukaryotic Genome......Page 168 Gene Exchange and Evolution......Page 184 Deciphering the Molecular Record for the Early Evolution of Life: Gene Duplication and Horizontal Gene Transfer......Page 186 Lateral Gene Exchange, an Evolutionary Mechanism for Extending the Upper or Lower Temperature Limits for Growth of Microorganisms? A Hypothesis......Page 198 Evidence in Anaerobic Fungi of Transfer of Genes Between Them from Aerobic Fungi, Bacteria and Animal Hosts......Page 208 Enzyme-based Phylogenies......Page 220 DNA Topoisomerases, Temperature Adaptation, and Early Diversification of Life......Page 222 Aminoacyl-tRNA Syntetases: Evolution of a Troubled Family......Page 238 The Evolutionary History of Carbamoyltransferases: Insights on the Early Evolution of the Last Universal Common Ancestor......Page 252 Enzyme Evolution......Page 262 Evolution of the Histone Fold......Page 264 Comparative Enzymology as an Aid to Understanding Evolution......Page 276 Pyrophosphate-dependent Phosphofructokinases in Thermophilic and Nonthermophilic Microorganisms......Page 290 Membrane Evolution......Page 300 sn-Glycerol-1-phosphate Dehydrogenase: A Key Enzyme in the Biosynthesis of Ether Phospholipids in Archaea......Page 302 From the Common Ancestor of all Living Organisms to Protoeukaryotic Cell......Page 308 Life at High Temperature......Page 318 Primitive Coenzymes and Metabolites in Archaeal/Thermophilic Metabolic Pathways......Page 320 3-Phosphoglycerate Kinase and Triose-phosphate Isomerase from Hyperthermophilic Archaea: Features of Biochemical Thermoadaptation......Page 332 The Evolutionary Significance of the Metabolism of Tungsten by Microorganisms Growing at 100C......Page 346 Index......Page 360 Annotation Late-1990s developments in the study of thermophiles have had considerable significance on theories of evolution. These micro-organisms are able to thrive at temperatures near or even above 100 degrees Celsius, and scientists have begun to study their biology in an attempt to provide clues about the beginnings of life on our planet. Researchers from diverse background such as biology, genetics, biogeochemistry, oceanography, systematics and evolution come together in this comprehensive volume to address questions such as: Why did life originate? Was the Earth at high temperatures when life began, and if so, how high? What can we conclude about the origins of life from studying thermophilic organisms? The rooted global phylogenetic model of Woese and colleagues (Woese at al., 1990; Woese, 1994), based on 16S rRNA sequences, predicts that the oldest of extant organisms are thermophilic and that the common ancestor to all extant organisms (cenancestor) was also thermophilic.