HC 441H: ORIGIN OF LIFE (CRN26117 4 credits)
Greg Retallack
310G Cascade
Office Hours: 1500-1600 MW3
Winter 2009
Lectures: 1400-1450 MWF/303 CHA
The aim of this course is to introduce students to scientific study of the origin of life, with an
emphasis on prehistoric-geological and experimental-biological evidence. Astronomy, chemistry
and physics will be introduced as necessary, and mythological-religious-poetic views discussed
only in so far as they have influenced scientific approaches. A course of lectures and discussions of
published papers will be supplemented with student presentations and project. The origin of life is a
subject of great literary, philosophical, and linguistic interest, and so of interest to Honors College
students in those areas.
Lectures and Tests
Date
January
February
March
5
7
9
12
14
16
21
23
26
28
2
4
6
9
11
13
16
18
20
23
25
27
2
4
6
9
11
13
17
Content
Introduction
Origin mythologies
Enlightenment to modern studies
Big Bang cosmogony
Origin of the Solar System
Building blocks of life
Monomers to polymers
Student presentations
Biological information
Metabolic pathways
Clay and hydroxide minerals
Models of biogenesis
Student presentations
MID-TERM EXAMINATION: 1 hour short answer
Meteorites
Student presentations
Moon and Venus
Archean geology
Student presentations
Early Earth environments
Archean paleontology
Student presentations
Archean metabolic biomarkers
Precambrian fossil soils
Student presentations
Late Precambrian life and global change
Coevolution of life and Earth
Student presentations
FINAL EXAM: 10.15 a.m., Tuesday: 2 hrs. short answer
on material since last test, & comprehensive essays.
Reading chapters (text)
Chapter 1
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 3
Chapter 3
Chapter 3
Chapter 2
Chapter 2
Chapter 6
Chapter 6
Chapter 6
Chapter 6
Chapter 6
Chapter 6
Chapter 6
HONS 410
2
Term project
A class presentation and report some 10-15 pages long is expected on a topic of your
choosing, based on material covered in the course and the reading list. It is important that the report
contains up-to-date information and is written in the form of a scientific paper, complete with
abstract, acknowledgements and all cited references. Consult bibliographies of geology and biology,
such as Georef in the Science Library to be sure you have seen the latest published work on your
topic. Follow the format of the journal Geology. Appropriate topics include the following.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Compare and contrast advantages and disadvantages of likely habitats for the origin of life.
What are the geochronological constraints on the timing for the origin of life on Earth.
How could life originate by natural selection?
What can be inferred about early life on Earth from the Precambrian fossil record?
What were the main contributions of Graham Cairns-Smith to origin of life studies? (other
individuals for a comparable paper could include Louis Pasteur, Charles Darwin, Francis
Crick).
Textbook
Schopf, J.W. (ed), 2002. Life’s origins. University of California Press, Berkeley, 208 p.
Assessment
Mid-term examination.......10%
Final examination........…...20%
Class presentation.....……. 30%
Term project.............…… 40%
General References
Bernal, J. D. 1967. The origin of life. (includes translation of article in Russian by I.A.Oparin).
World, New York, 345 pp.
Cairns-Smith, A. G. 1971. The life puzzle. University of Toronto Press, Toronto, 165 pp.
Crick, F. H. C. 1981. Life itself: its origin and nature. Touchstone Press, Simon and Schuster,
New York, 192 pp.
Haldane, J. B. S. 1929. The origin of life. Rationalist Annual, v. 148, p. 3-10.
Lovelock, J. E. 1979. Gaia: a new look at life on Earth. Oxford University Press, Oxford, 157
pp.
Monod, J. 1971. Chance and necessity. (Translated by A. Wainhouse). Knopf, New York, 199
pp.
READING FOR STUDENT TALKS
January 23 beginnings
Bennett, C.L. 2006, Cosmology from start to finish. Nature, 440, 1126-1131.
Dietrich, W.D., and Taylor Perron, J., 2006, The search for a topographic signsture of life. Nature, 439, 411-418.
Garcia-Ruiz, J.M., Hyde, S.T., Carnerup, A.M., Christy, A.G., Van Kranendonk, M.J., and Welham, N.J., 2003,
Swelf-assembled silica-carbonate structures and detection of ancient microfossils. Science, 302, 1194-1197.
Hiroi, T., Abe, M., Kitazato, K., Clark, B.E., Sasaki, S., Ishiguro, M. and Barnouin-Jha, O.S., 2006, Developing
space weathering on the asteroid 25143 Itokawa. Nature, 443, 56-58.
Retallack, G.J., 2008, Rocks, views, soils and plants at the temples of ancient Greece. Antiquity, 82, 640-657.
Stofan, E.R., Elachi, C., Lunine, J.I., Lorenz, R.D., Stiles, B., Mitchell, K.L., Ostro, S., Soderblom, L., Wood, C.,
Zebker, H.., Wall, S., Janssen, M., Kirk, R., Lopes, R., Paganelli, F., Radebaught, J., Wye, L., Anderson, Y.,
Allison, M., Boehmer, R., Callahan, P., Encrenaz, P., Flamini, E., Francescetti, G., Gim, Y., Hamilton, G.,
Hensley, S., Johnson, W.T.K., Kelleher, K., Muhleman, D., Paillou, P., Picardi, G., Posa F., Roth, L., Seu,
R., Shaffer, S., Veterlla, S., and West, R., 2007, The lakes of Titan. Nature, 445, 61-64.
February 6 models
Falkowski, P.G., Fenchel, T., and Delong, E.F., 2008, The microbial engines that drive Earth’s biogeochemical
cycles. Science, 320, 1034-1038.
Johnson, A.P., Cleaves, H.J., Dworkin, J.P., Glavin, D.P., Lazcano, A., and Bada, J.L., 2008, The Miller volcanic
spark discharge experiment. Science, 322, 404.
Nisbet, E.G., and Sleep, N.H., 2001, The habitat and nature of early life. Nature, 409, 1083-1091.
Pasek, M.A., 2008, Rethinking early Earth phosphorus geochemistry. U.S. National Academy of Sciences
Proceedings, 105, 853-858.
Powner, M.W., Gerland, B., and Sutherland., J.D., 2009, Synthesis of activated pyrimidine ribonucleotides in
prebiotically plausible conditions. Nature, 459, 239-242.
Retallack, G.J., 2007, Coevolution of life and earth. In Earth evolution, edited by D. Stevenson, in Treatise of
Geophysics, edited by G. Schubert, Elsevier, Amsterdam, p. 295-320.
February 13 meteorites
Baker, J., Bizzarro, M., Wittig, N., Connelly, J., and Haack, H., 2005, Early planetismals melting from an age of
4.5662 Gyr for differentiated meteorites. Nature, 436, 1127-1131.
Bottke, W.F., Nesvorny, D., Grimm, R.E., Morbidelli, A., and O’Brien, D.P., 2006, Iron meteorites as remnants of
planetismals formed in the terrestrial planet region. Nature, 439, 821-824
Busemann, H., Young, A.F., Alexander, C.M.O., Hoppe, P., Mukhopadhyay, S., and Nittler, L.R., 2006, Interstellar
chemistry recorded in organic matter from primitive meteorites. Science, 312, 727-730.
Cuzzi, J.N., and Alexander, C.M.O., 2006, Chondrule formation in particle-rich nebular regions at least hundreds of
kilometres across. Nature, 441, 483-485.
Nakamura-Messenger, K., Messenger, S., Keller, L.P., Clemett, S.J., and Zolensky, M.E., 2006, Organic globules in
the Tagish Lake meteorite: remnants of the protosolar disk. Science, 314, 1439-1442.
Yang, J., Goldstein, J.I. and Scott, E.R.D., 2007, Iron meteorite evidence for early formation and catastrophic
disruption of protoplanets. Nature, 446, 888-891.
February 20 early Earth
Bishop, J.L., Dobrea, E.Z.N., McKeown, N.K., Parente, M., Ehlmann, B.L., Michalski, R.E., Poulet, F., Swayze,
G.A., Mustard, J.F., Murchie, S.L., Bibring, J.-P., 2008, Phyllosilicate diversity and past aqueous activity
revealed at Mawrth Vallis, Mars. Science, 321, 830-833.
Hopkins, M., Harrison, T.M., and Manning, C.E., 2008, Low heat flow inferred from >4 Gyr zircons suggests
Hadean plate boundary interactions. Nature, 456, 493-496.
Mojzsis, S.J., Arrhenius, G., McKeegan, K.D., Harrison, T.M., Nutman, A.P., and Friend, C.R.L., 1996, Evidence
for life before 3800 million years ago. Nature, 384, 55-59.
Svedhem, H., Titov, D.V., Taylor, F.W., and Witasse, O., 2007, Venus as a more Earth-like planet. Nature 450, 629632.
Tosca, N.J., Knoll, A.H., and McLennan, S.M., 320, Water activity and the challenge for life on early Mars. Science,
320, 1204-1207.
Valley, J.W. 2008, The origin of habitats. Geology, 36, 911-912.
February 27 Archaean
Allwood, A.C., Walter, M.R., Kamber, B.S., Marshall, C.P., and Burch, I.W., 2006, Stromatolite reef from the Early
Archaean era of Australia. Nature 441, 714-718.
Furnes, H., Banerjee, N.R., Muehlenbachs, K., Staudigel, H., and de Wit, M., 2004, Early life recorded in Archaean
pillow lavas. Science, 304, 578-581.
Lowe, D.R. and Tice, M.M., 2007, Tectonic controls on atmospheric, climatic and biological evolution 3.5-2.4 Ga.
Precambrian Research, 158, 177-197.
Philippot, P., Van Zuilen, M., Lepot, K., Thomazo, C., Farquhar, J., and Van Kranendonk, M.J., 2007, Early
Archaean microorganisms preferred elemental sulfur, not sulfate. Science, 317, 1534-1537.
Schopf, J.W., Kudryatsev, A.B. Czaja, A.D., and Tripathi, A.B., 2007, Evidence of Archaean life: stromatolites and
microfossils. Precambrian Research, 158, 141-155.
Tice, M.M. and Lowe, D.R. 2004. Photosynthetic microbial mats in the 3,416-Myr-old ocean. Nature, 431, 549-523.
March 6 mid-Precambrian
Anbar, A.D., and Knoll, A.H., 2002, Proterozoic Ocean chemistry and evolution: a bioinorganic bridge? Science,
297, 1137-1142.
Bjerrum, C.J., and Canfield, D.E., 2002, Ocean productivity before about 1.9 Gyr ago limited by phosphorus
adsorption onto iron oxides. Nature, 417, 159-162.
Farquhar, J., Bao, H., and Thiemens, M., 2000, Atmospheric influence of Earth’s earliest sulfur cycle. Science, 289,
756-758.
Konhauser, K.O., Pecoits, E., Lalonde, S.V., Papineau, D., Nisbet, E.G., Barley, M.E., Arndt, N.T., Zahnle, K., and
Kamber, B.S., 2009, Oceanic nickel depletion and a methanogen famine before the Great Oxidation Event.
Nature, 458, 750-753.
Payne, J.L., Boyer, A.G., Brown, J.H., Finnegan, S., Kowalewski, M., Krause, R.A., Lyons, S.K., McClain, C.R.
McShea, D.W., Novack-Gottschall, P.M., Smith, F.A., Stempien, J.A., and Wang, S.C., 2009, Two phase
increase in the maximum size of life over 3.5 billion years reflects biological innovation and environmental
opportunity. U.S. National Academy of Sciences Proceedings, 106, 24-27.
Rasmussen, B., Blake, T.S., Fletcher, I.R., and Kilburn, M.R., 2009, Evidence for microbial life in synsedimentary
cavities from 2.75 Ga terrestrial environments. Geology, 37, 423-426.
March 13 Neoproterozoic
Bailey, J.V., Joye, S.B., Kalanetra, K.M., Flood, B.E., and Corsetti, F.A., 2007, Evidence of giant sulphur bacteria in
Neoproterozoic phosphorites. Nature, 445, 198-201.
Kennedy, M., Mrofka, D., and von der Borch, C., 2008, Snowball termination by destabilization of equatorial
permafrost methane clathrate. Nature, 453, 642-645.
Knauth, L.P., and Kennedy, M.J., 2009, The late Precambrian greening of the Earth. Nature, 460, 728-732.
Love, G.D., Grosjean, E., Stalvies, C., Fike, D.A., Grotzinger, J.P., Bradley, A.S., Kelly, A.E., Bhatia, M., Meredith,
W., Snape, C.E., Bowring, S.A., Condon, D.J., and Summons, R.E., 2009, Fossil steroids record the
appearance of Demospongiae during the Cryogenian period. Nature, 457, 718-721.
Retallack, G.J., 2007, Decay, growth, and burial compaction of Dickinsonia, an iconic Ediacaran fossil. Alcheringa,
31, 215-240.
Yuan, X., Xiao, S., and Taylor, T.N., 2005, Lichen symbiosis 600 million years ago. Science, 308, 1017-1020.