JTW's Evolutionary Origins - Author: Wachtershauser, Gunter

Wachtershauser's Theory

- Table of Contents -

Evolutionary Biochemistry: Introduction to The Iron-Sulphur World

• Wactershauser Introduction
• The Scientific Merit of the Theory

Pyrite Formation and Properties

• Chirality in Pyrite and Pyrite-pulled Products
• Conditions For Chemoautotrophic Energy Source
• Oxidative Pyrite Formation as an Energy Source
• Pyrite-Surface Bonding

Methodology and Principle Concepts

• Explanation of Evolutionary Distribution
• Historic Relationships
• Method of Pathway Retridiction -Diagnostic Criteria
• The Problem of Pathway Reconstruction
• Elementary Steps of Pathway Evolution
• Postulates

The Role of Various Elements and Groups in a Chemoautotrophic Metabolism

• Sulphur and Sulphur Analogs in a Chemoautotrophic Metabolism
• Phosphorylation in a Chemoautotrophic Metabolism
• The Evolution of the Sugar Pathways in a Chemoautotrophic Metabolism

Important Biomolecules

• The Antiquity of Coenzymes (Lahav 1999)
• RNA preceeds DNA (Lahav 1999)
• Arguments For Hyperthermophilic Origins (Lahav 1999)

Experimental Support

• Reactions Leading from Carbon Monoxide/Dioxide to Oligopeptides

Reactions

• Rxn a (Postulate 1)
• Rxn b
• Rxn c (Postulate 3)

• Wachtershauser, Gunter
  • Groundworks for an Evolutionary Biochemistry: The Iron-Sulphur World
  • Progress in Biophysics and Molecular Biology: Vol. 58, No. 2, pp.85-202
  • 1992
  • [Pubmed]

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