10 Great Evolutionary Innovations- Chapter 1

Question 1

________ earth was pre-life on earth. A single day lasted 6 hours and it was virtually completely covered in water with peppered volcanic islands and a thick atmosphere.

Answer 1

Primordial

3,800 million years ago

Question 2

3,400 years ago, what was the first type of bacteria to appear?

Answer 2

Stromatolites

Question 3

“The origin of life was certainly a matter of chemistry, so the same logic applies: the basic reactions of life must have taken place _________ and _______” (Lane 10)

Answer 3

Spontaneously and quickly

Question 4

The Miller-Urey Experiment was called “primordial soup”. It was a large flask filled with a gas mixture similar to that of Uranus. It was induced with electric shock. Months later there were amino acids forming (the building blocks of life). True or False

Answer 4

False.

It was Jupiter

Question 5

Primordial atmosphere consisted of carbon dioxide, ________, trace ammonia, and trace methane.

Answer 5

Nitrogen

Question 6

Sulphur bacteria can extract hydrogen and attach it to _______ _________ to form organic material.

Answer 6

Carbon dioxide.

Question 7

What is a fissure in the planet’s surface from which geothermally heated seawater emerges?

Answer 7

Hydrothermal vents

Question 8

A focus on thermodynamic gradients to generate the setting for the origin of life.

Answer 8

Bottom-up approach

Question 9

All living things are composed of cells.
•All have genes that encode for particular proteins.
•All use ATP to provide energy for cellular function.
•The Krebs cycle is fundamental to this process.
These are all characteristics of what?

Answer 9

Top Down Approach

Question 10

What is the Krebs cycle?

Answer 10

essentially it breaks down organic molecules and produces hydrogen ions and carbon dioxide in the process.

At the core of metabolic reactions for all life

Question 11

• Produce organic molecules.
• Consumes Carbon Dioxide and Hydrogen ions.
• “Relatively common in the bacteria that live in the hydrothermal vents” (Lane 25)

These are characteristics of what cycle?

Answer 11

Reverse Krebs

Question 12

According to Lane what was the “spark” that ignited life?

Answer 12

Acetyl Thioester

• A reactive form of vinegar found in hydrothermal vents.
• Can react with carbon dioxide to produce pyruvate, a precursor for the Krebs Cycle.
• Helps to facilitate the production of acetyl phosphate and ATP.
• Eventually this energy can be used to drive the cycle backwards. Lane -29