"Radzvilavicius, a supporter of the hydrothermal-vent theory for the origin of life, takes on the
Souper-men, who picture life emerging from generic-brand Primordial Soup.
The Souper-men cannot account for the cartoon character’s souper-powers, even with a magic touch of Miller lightning:
Meanwhile, in the Scripps kitchen, Gerald Joyce has cooked up a new RNA noodle for his soup. His paper in PNAS recognizes that...
Joyce and colleagues, however, bought their RNA from a supply house. RNA is a very delicate molecule, unlikely to form (or survive) in soups or vents. Joyce started with a carefully-crafted ribozyme, then submitted it to rounds of “Darwinian evolution” (actually, artificial selection), randomizing it to look for versions that would work. His colleague David Horning says in PhysOrg, “The selection was based on the ability of these newly synthesized RNAs to actually function by binding to their targets.” But Horning and Joyce were the ones making those selections. Would this have occurred in a mindless primordial soup? No; everyone in the origin-of-life research field agrees that, until accurate replication emerged somehow, natural selection was unavailable. When researchers are escorted out of the lab, dumb molecules will just do what the laws of chemistry make them do." CEH
The Souper-men cannot account for the cartoon character’s souper-powers, even with a magic touch of Miller lightning:
Under the conventional theory, life supposedly began when lightning or UV rays caused simple molecules to join together into more complex compounds. This culminated in the creation of information-storing molecules similar to our own DNA, housed within the protective bubbles of primitive cells. Laboratory experiments confirm that trace amounts of molecular building blocks that make up proteins and information-storing molecules can indeed be created under these conditions. For many, the primordial soup has become the most plausible environment for the origin of first living cells.
But life isn’t just about replicating information stored within DNA. All living things have to reproduce in order to survive, but replicating the DNA, assembling new proteins and building cells from scratch require tremendous amounts of energy. At the core of life are the mechanisms of obtaining energy from the environment, storing and continuously channelling it into cells’ key metabolic reactions.
That’s where Radzvilavicius thinks hydrothermal vents come in. They supply a continuous source of energy.
The studies suggest that in the earliest stages of life’s evolution, chemical reactions in primitive cells were likely driven by these non-biological proton gradients. Cells then later learned how to produce their own gradients and escaped the vents to colonise the rest of the ocean and eventually the planet.
Darwinian life requires the ability to replicate genotypes and express phenotypes. Although all extant life relies on protein enzymes to accomplish these tasks, life in the ancestral RNA world would have used only RNA enzymes.
So while the Venters focus on energy,
the Soupers focus on replication.
Gerald Joyce, however, used a lot of intelligently-directed energy to create his new synthetic RNA enzyme (ribozyme). It works better than previous attempts:Joyce and colleagues, however, bought their RNA from a supply house. RNA is a very delicate molecule, unlikely to form (or survive) in soups or vents. Joyce started with a carefully-crafted ribozyme, then submitted it to rounds of “Darwinian evolution” (actually, artificial selection), randomizing it to look for versions that would work. His colleague David Horning says in PhysOrg, “The selection was based on the ability of these newly synthesized RNAs to actually function by binding to their targets.” But Horning and Joyce were the ones making those selections. Would this have occurred in a mindless primordial soup? No; everyone in the origin-of-life research field agrees that, until accurate replication emerged somehow, natural selection was unavailable. When researchers are escorted out of the lab, dumb molecules will just do what the laws of chemistry make them do." CEH
How 'bout a 3rd option?
For he spake, and it was done;
he commanded, and it stood fast.
Psalm 33:9