
Proceedings Paper
Threshold effects in assembling a cell on a young planetFormat | Member Price | Non-Member Price |
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Paper Abstract
Molecules in the young Earth's oceans underwent a finite number C of collisions during the time interval which elapsed
between Earth's formation and the emergence of life. The finiteness of C sets an upper limit G on the number of
constituent molecules which could have been randomly assembled into a genetic molecule from a reservoir of the
relevant constituent molecules for use in the first cell. A viable cell requires a certain minimum number of genes in order
to be functional: this means that the genetic material must include a minimum number M of the constituent molecules
which encode for information. The question we address here is: is it mathematically possible for G to take on values
which are at least as large as M? The answer is Yes, provided that we allow for the fact that there is a large amount of
flexibility ("non-specificity") in the operation of biological molecules. When this flexibility is allowed for, we find that
G can be comparable to M provided that the mass of constituent molecules which were available in the pre-biotic Earth
exceeded a certain threshold. Our estimates indicate that a mass on the order of a few tons would satisfy the threshold.
Paper Details
Date Published: 23 September 2011
PDF: 6 pages
Proc. SPIE 8152, Instruments, Methods, and Missions for Astrobiology XIV, 815214 (23 September 2011); doi: 10.1117/12.899351
Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 8152:
Instruments, Methods, and Missions for Astrobiology XIV
Richard B. Hoover; Paul C. W. Davies; Gilbert V. Levin; Alexei Yu. Rozanov, Editor(s)
PDF: 6 pages
Proc. SPIE 8152, Instruments, Methods, and Missions for Astrobiology XIV, 815214 (23 September 2011); doi: 10.1117/12.899351
Show Author Affiliations
D. J. Mullan, Univ. of Delaware (United States)
Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 8152:
Instruments, Methods, and Missions for Astrobiology XIV
Richard B. Hoover; Paul C. W. Davies; Gilbert V. Levin; Alexei Yu. Rozanov, Editor(s)
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