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Hypothesized Microenvironments for the Origin of Microbial Life on Earth

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Genesis - In The Beginning

Part of the book series: Cellular Origin, Life in Extreme Habitats and Astrobiology ((COLE,volume 22))

Abstract

The origin of life is still an enigma (Trevors, 2011; Trevors and Masson, 2011). Moreover, there is no generally accepted definition of life, which makes a delineation of the abiotic and biotic world difficult (Cleland and Chyba, 2002). A suite of characteristics is often used to define life. These include the ability of life to synthesize its own biomacromolecules, to generate and convert energy to various forms of cellular work, to perform informational biosynthetic processes to ensure storage of genetic instructions and reproduction; the ability to insulate the internal milieu and control exchanges with the external environment; and the ability to regulate activities and reproduce or multiply (De Duve, 1991). The transition from a lifeless chemosphere on Earth to the beginning of the living biosphere occurred about 4 billion years ago.

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Acknowledgments

Research by J.T.T. is supported by the NSERC (Canada) Discovery Program; A. Bej’s work was supported by the UAB Faculty Development Award; Tawani Foundation (Col. James Pritzker), Chicago; NASA/NSSTC/VCSI Antarctic expedition (Marty Kress); NCAOR, India (Rasik Ravindra) and AARI/RAE, Russia.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Environmental Sciences, Laboratory of Microbiology, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, Canada, N1G 2W1

    Jack T. Trevors

  2. Department of Biology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, 464 Campbell Hall, Birmingham, AL, 35294-1170, USA

    Asim K. Bej

  3. Linneausborgh, University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 7, 9747AG, Groningen, The Netherlands

    Jan Dirk van Elsas

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Correspondence to Jack T. Trevors .

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  1. University of Jerusalem, Mevo Hadas 20, Efrat, 90435, Israel

    Joseph Seckbach

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Trevors, J.T., Bej, A.K., van Elsas, J.D. (2012). Hypothesized Microenvironments for the Origin of Microbial Life on Earth. In: Seckbach, J. (eds) Genesis - In The Beginning. Cellular Origin, Life in Extreme Habitats and Astrobiology, vol 22. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-2941-4_39

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