Since its first publication in 1968 when it was entitled Space Life
Sciences, from 1974 to 1983 when it was called Origins of Life and from
1984 to the present as "Origins of Life and Evolution of the Biosphere", it
has continued to publish special issues and papers dealing with important
topics dealing with the origin and early evolution of life. For example,
recent special issues of the Journal include "Marine Hydrothermal Systems,"
"Comets and the Origins and Evolution of Life," "Water in the Solar System
and its Role in Exobiology and "RNA and the Origins of Life. " In addition,
OLEB publishes the abstracts from the triennial meetings of the
International Society of the Study of the Origins of Life as well as key
papers from these meetings. The breadth of coverage is exemplified by the
titles of recent papers including:
Message From the Editor:
In recent years, the origin and early evolution of life has seen an
unprecedented development. New theories concerning the origins of life
such as cometary sources of organics, the possible role of marine
hydrothermal systems on the chemistry of the primitive earth and the
postulate of the RNA world have brought many new scientists to the field of
origins of life. It is the role of "Origins of Life and Evolution of the
Biosphere" to bring these articles together in one journal. While any
scientific study related to the origin of life has its place in the
journal, the main interests revolve around theoretical and experimental
studies dealing with planetary atmospheres, interstellar chemistry,
precambrian studies, prebiotic chemistry, and early evolution.
ISSOL'99 convened in San Diego California, Sunday July 11 - 17, 1999. For more information, visit the "1999 ISSOL Meeting" at the NSCORT web site: http://exobio.ucsd.edu/Issol/ISSOL.htm If you have comments about papers presented at the meeting, please send email to the web page editor to be considered for publication in the Origins Forum.
Papers Published in Vol. 27, #1 - 3, 1997
(Special Issue edited by D.C.B. Whittet)
Circumstellar and Interstellar Synthesis of Organic Molecules. Xander Tielens p. 23-51.
Detection of Organic Matter in Interstellar Grains. Yvonne Pendleton p. 53-78.
The Nature and Evolution of Interstellar Ices. Jean Chiar p. 78-100.
Interstellar ice studeied with Infrared Space Observatory. D.C.B. Whittet. p. 101-113.
The Search for Interstellar Glycine. Lew Snyder. p. 115-133.
The Origin of Low Mass Stars. Bruce Wilking. p. 135-155.
Analogs of the Early Solar System. Dave Koerner. p. 157-184.
The Early Solar System. Mike Gaffey. p. 185-203.
Physics and Chemistry of the Solar Nebula. Jonathan Lunine. p.205-224.
Chemical Evolution in the Atmosphere of Titan: Comparison to the Prebiotic Earth. David Clarke and Jim Ferris. p. 249-262.
Is Extraterrestrial Organic Matter Relevant to the Origin of Life on Earth? D.C. Whittet. p. 249-262.
The Search for Life on Mars. Chris McKay. p. 263-289.
Habital Zones Around Low Mass Stars and the Search for Extraterrestrial Life. Jim Kasting. p. 291-307.
Papers Published in Vol. 27, #4, 1997
(Special Issue in Honor of Leslie Orgel on his Seventieth Birthday)
Formaldehyde in Hot Springs. D. E. Ingemanson. p. 313-317.
Prebiotic Transamination. J. C. Bishop, S. D. Cross and T. C. Waddell. p. 319-324.
Modeling of the Prebiotic Synthesis of Oligopeptides: Silicate Catalysis Helps to Overcome the Critical Stage. K. Zamaraev, V. N. Romannikov, R. I. Salganik, W. A. Wlassoff, and V. V. Khramtsov.p. 325-337.
Condensation of Glycylglycine to Oligoglycines with Trimetaphosphate in Aqueous Solution. II. Catalytic Effect of Magnesium Ion. Y. Yamagata and K. Inomata. P. 339-344.
Attempted Prebiotic Synthesis of Pseudouridine. J. P. Dworkin. p. 345-355.
Dimerization of Highly Concentrated Solutions of Phosphorimidazolide Activated Mononucleotides. p. 357-376.
Emergence of Template- and Sequence- Directed (TSD) Syntheses: I. A Bio-Geochemical Model. N. Lahav and S. Nir. P. 377-395.
Vestiges of Early Molecular Processes Leading to the Genetic Code. R. Ferreira and A. R. De O. Cavalanti. p. 397-403.
Evolutionary Consideration on 5-Aminolevulinic Synthase in Nature. P. 405-412.
Ultraviolet Radiation from F and K Stars and Implications for Planetary Habitability. J. F. Kasting, D. C. D., Whittet and W. R. Sheldon. P. 413-420.
Papers Published in Vol. 27, #5 - 6, 1997
A Remembrance. H. G. Khorana. 429-430.
The Prebiotic Leslie Orgel: Some of His Contributions to Our Understanding of the Origins of Life. J. P. Ferris. p. 431-435.
30 Years later-A New Approach to Sol SpiegelmanÕs and Leslie OrgelÕs In Vitro Evolutionary Studies. F. Oehlenschlager and M. Eigen. p. 437-457.
Primary Sources of Phosphorus and Phosphates in Chemical Evolution. E. Macia, H. V. Hernandez and J. Oro. p. 459-480.
On the Prebiotic Role of Iron and Sulfur. R. Oesterberg. p. 481-484.
Mineral Induced Phosphorylation of Glycolate Ion - A Metaphor in Chemical Evolution. V. Kolb, S. Zhang, Y. Xu, and Gustaf Arrhenius. p. 485-503.
Prebiotic Phosphorous Reconsidered. A. W. Schwartz p. 505-512.
Effect of Dinucleoside Pyrophosphates on the Oligomerization of Activated Mononucleotides on Na+-Montmorillonite; Reaction of the 5Õ-phosphoro-4-(dimethylamino)pyridinium[4-(CH3)2NPyPA] with A5ÕppA. K. J. Prabahar and J. P. Ferris. p. 513-523.
Helical Structure Formation Between Complementary Oligonucleotides. Minimum Chain Length Required for the Template-Directed Synthesis of Oligonucleotides. H. Sawai, S. Totuka, and K. Yamamoto. p. 525-533.
Towards a Chemical Etiology of Nucleic Acid Structure. A. Eschenmoser p.535-553.
Derivatization and Template-Guided Ligation of Oligodeoxyribonucleotides Using Cyanogen Bromide and N-Substituted Morpholines. Z. A. Shabarova, O. A. Fedorova, N. G. Dolinnaya and M. B. Gottikh. p. 555-566.
Emergence of Template-and Sequence Directed (TSD) Syntheses: II. Computer Simulation Model. p. 567-584.
Conformational Variety of Polyanionic Peptides at Low Salt Concentrations. M. Bertrand and A. Brack. p. 585-595.
Four-Stranded DNA Formed by Isoguanine Quartets: Complex Stoichiometry, Thermal Stability and Resistance Against Exonucleases. F. Seela, C. Wei, and A. Melenewski. p. 597-608.
The Evolutionary Design of Error-Rates and the Fast Fixation Enigma. J. Nino. p. 609-621.
Evolution: The Dialogue Between Life and Death. R. Holliday. P. 623-621.
Papers Published in Vol. 28, #1, 1998
Studies on the Lead-Catalyzed Synthesis of Aldopentoses. G. Zubay.
A Porphine Solar Energy Transducer for Origin of Life Chemistry: A Possible Synthetic Path from HCN to an Octaazaporphine via 4H-Imidazol-4-Imine [(HCN)3] Related Chemistry. J. P. Neumer, M. D. Gordon, Charles N. McEwen, P. M. Peacock, S. A. Hill, R. G. McKay, J. Lazar, J. R. Valentine, VF. J. Van Lenten, and A. Foris.
Polymerization of b-Amino Acids in Aqueous Solution. R. Liu and L. E. Orgel
N-Carbamoyl-a-Amino Acids Rather Than Free a-Amino Acid Formation in the Primitive Hydrosphere: A Novel Proposal for the Emergence of Prebiotic Peptides. J. Tallades, I. Beuzelin, L. Garrell, V. Tabacik, C. Bied, and A. Commeyras.
Catalysis of Dialanine Formation By Glycine in the Salt-Induced Peptide Formation Reaction. Y. Suwannachot and B. M. Rode.
The Origin of Life-How Long Did It Take? L. E. Orgel.
On the Determination of Integral Nodes of an Evolutionary Dendrogram. J. Yoha and M. A. Sota.
Papers Published in Vol. 28, #2, 1998
Special Issue Dedicated to the Memory of Cyril Ponnamperuma In Memoriam, R. Navarro-Gonzalez Cyril Ponnamperuma and the Origins of Life: A Bibliography.
Power Measurements of Spark Discharge Experiments. R. Navarro-Gonzalez, R. Romer, and Y. Honda.
Amino Acid Formation in Gas Mixtures by High Energy Particle Irradiation. K. Kobayashi, T. Kaneko, T. Saito and T. Oshima.
Behavior of Amino Acids When Volatilized in the Presence of Silica Gel and Pulverized Balsaltic Lava. V. Basiuk and R. Navarro-Gonzalez.
Review and the Latest Results of Laboratory Investigations of Titans Aerosols. P. Coll, D. Coscia, M. C. Gazeau, L. Guez, and F. Raulin.
First Steps in Eukarogenesis: Physical Phenomena in the Origin and Evolution of Chromosome Structure, J. Chela-Flores.
Papers Published in Vol. 28, #3, 1998
Polymerization on the Rocks: Negatively-Charged alpha-Amino Acids, Aubrey R. Hill Jr., Christof Bohler and Leslie E. Orgel.
Polymerization on the Rocks: beta-Amino Acids and Arginine, Rihe Liu and Leslie E. Orgel.
Prebiotic Amino Acid Thioester Synthesis: Thiol-Dependent Amino Acid Synthesis from Formose Substrates (Formaldehyde and Glycolaldehyde) and Ammonia, Arthur L. Weber.
Prebiotic Chemistry of Phosphonic Acids: Products Derived from Phosphonoacetaldehyde in the Presence of Formaldehyde, R.M. De Graaf, J. Visscher, and Alan W. Schwartz.
The Role of Self-Assembled Monolayers of the Purine and Pyrimidine Bases in the Emergence of Life, Stephen J. Sowerby, and Wolfgang M. Heckl
Hydrogen Consumption by Methanogens on the Early Earth, Timothy A. Kral, Keith M. Brink, Stanley L. Miller and Christopher P. McKay.
Solar Ultraviolet and the Evolutionary History of Cyanobacteria, F. Garcia-Pichel
Papers Published in Vol. 29, #1, 1999
Energetics and Kinetics of the prebiotic Synthesis of Simple Organic Acids and Amino Acids with the FeS-H2S/FeS2 Redox Couple as Reductant, Martin A. Schoonan, Yong Xu and Joakim Bebie.
Sources and Sinks for Ammonia and Nitrite on the Early Earth and the Reaction of Nitrite with Ammonia, David Summers.
Martian Stable Isotopes: Volatile Evolution. Climate Change and Exobiological Implications, Bruce M. Jakosky
Peroxide-Modified Titanium Dioxide: A Chemical Analog of Putative Martian Soil Oxidants, Richard Quinn and Aaron P. Zent.
Post-Viking Microbiology: New Approaches, New Data, New Insights, Kenneth Nealson.
Codons and Hypercycles, Martynas Ycas
Book Review of "Mars and the Development of Life" by Anders Hanson, reviewed by Harold K. Morowitz.
Book Review of "Chemical Evolution: Physics of the Origins and Evolution of Life" Proceedings of the 4th Trieste Conference on Chemical Evolution, reviewed by Andre Brack.
Papers Published in Vol. 29, #2, 1999
Flash Heating on the Early Earth, James R. Lyons and Ashwin R, Vasada.
Mineral Induced Formation of Pentose-2,4-Bisphosphates, R. Krishnamurthy, S. Pitch and G. Arrhenius.
Lipid Synthesis Under Hydrothermal Conditions by Fisher-Tropsch-Type Reactions, Thomas M. McCollom, Gilles Ritter and Bernd R. T. Simoneit.
Abiotic Formation of Hydrocarbons and Oxygenated Compounds During Thermal Decomposition of Iron Oxalate, Thomas M. McCollom and Bernd R. T. Simoneit.
Molecular Distribution of Monocarboxylic Acids in Asuka Carbonaceous
Chondrites from Antarctica, Hiroshi Naraoka, Akira Shimoyama, and Kaoru Harada.
Primitive Molecular Machine Scenario for the Origin of the Three Base Codon Composition, G. Martinez-Mekler, A. Aldana, F. Cazarez-Bush, R. Garcia-Pelayo and G. Concho.
The Extraterrestrial Origin of the Homochirality of Biomolecules-Rebuttal to a Critique, William A. Bonner, J. Mayo Greenberg and Edward Rubenstein.
Book Review of "Evolution of Hydrothermal Ecosystems on Earth (and Mars?)", Ciba Foundation Symposium 202, Reviewed by Nils G. Holm.
Book Review of "Evolving the Mind: on the Nature of Matter and the Origin of Consciousness" by A. G. Cairns-Smith. Reviewed by Harold K. Kimelberg.
Papers Published in Vol. 29, #3, 1999
Autocatalytic Synthesis of Oligoglycine in a Simulated Submarine Hydrothermal System, Ei-Chi Imai, Hajime Honda, Kuniyuki Hatori, Kochiro Matsunso.
Enhanced Photolysis of Nucleic Acid Monomers by Pyrophosphate in the Simulated Primitive Soup, Wang Kongjiang, Chai Zhifang, and Pan Xianming.
The Combination of Salt Induced Peptide Formation Reaction and Clay Catalysis: A Way to Higher Peptides Under Primitive Earth Conditions, Bernd M. Rode, Hoang L. Son, Yuttana Suwannachot, and Juraj Budak.
Prebiotic Synthesis of Vitamin B6-Type Compounds, Sabrina M. Austin and Thomas G. Waddell.
Clay-Nucleic Acid Complexes: Characteristics and Implications for the Preservation of Genetic Materials in Primeval Habitats, Marco Franchi, Emilia Bramanti, Laura Morassi Bonzi, Pier Luigi Orioli, Cristina Vettori and Enzo Gallori.
Enantioselective Autocatalysis. V. The Spontaneous Resolution of Tri-o-Thymotide, Willliam A Bonner.
Extraterrestrail Handedness: A Reply, William A. Bonner, Edward Rubenstein and George S. Brown.
Papers Published in Vol. 29, #4, 1999
Does formate reduce alpha-ketoglutarate and ammonia to glutamate? Quinn Maughan and Stanley L. Miller
Pyrite suspended in artificial seawater catalyzes hydrolysis of adsorbed ATP: Enhancing effect of acetate, Ana. C. Tessis, Andrea Penteado-Fava, Mila Pontes-Buarque, Helio Salim de Amorim, Jose A. P. Bonapace, Fernando de Souza-Barros and Adelberto Vieyra.
The fidelity of template-directed oligonucleotide ligation and the inevitability of polymerase function. Kenneth D. James and Andrew D. Ellington
The antibiotic viomycin as a model peptide for the origin of the co-evolution of RNAs and proteins. Herbert Wank, Elisabeth Clodi, Mary G. Wallis and Renee Schroeder.
Isolation, temperature regimes, phtosynthetic productivity and implications of flares. Martin J. Heath, Laurance R. Doyle, Manoj M. Joshi, and Robert M. Haberle
Directed molecular evolution. Lester F. Harris, Michael R. Sullivan and Dolph L. Hatfield
Review of "The Biological Universe: The Twentieth-Century Extraterrestrial Life Debate and the Limits of Science" by Steven J. Dick. Review by Harold P. Klein
Papers Published in Vol. 29, #5, 1999
Silica, alumina and clay catalyzed peptide bond formation: Enhanced efficiency of alumina catalyst. Juraj Bujdak and Bernd M. Rode
Mutual amino acid catalysis in salt-induced pepetide formation supports this mechanism's role in prebiotic pepetide evolution. Yuttana Suwannachot and Bernd Rode
Relative reactivity of ribosyl 2'-OH vs. 3'-OH in concentrated aqueous solutions of phosphoimidazolide activated nucleotides. Anastassia Kanavarioti, Lynn F, Lee and Summa Gangopadhyay
Carboxylic and dicarboxylic acids extracted from crushed magnesium oxide single crystals. Friedemann Freund, Alka D. Gupta and Devendra Kumar
Prebiotic formation of ADP and ATP from AMP, calcium phosphates and cyanate in aqueous solution. Yukio Yamagata
Survival of life on asteroids, comets and other samll bodies. B. C. Clark, A. L. Baker, A. F. Cheng, S. J. Clemett, D. McKay, H. Y. McSween, C. M. Pieters, P. Thomas, and M. Zolensky.
Papers Accepted for Publication
Did Viking discover life on Mars? Harold P. Klein
Book review of "Our Cosmic Origins - From the Big Bang to the Emergence of Life and Intelligence" by Armand Delsemme. Book review by Douglas Whittet
Clay catalysis of oligonucleotide foramtion: Kinetics of the reaction of the 5'-phosphorimidazolides of nucleotides with the non-basic heterocycles uracil and hypoxanthine. Kunio Kawamura and James P. Ferris
Chiral amplification - The accumulation principle revisited. William A. Bonner
Oligomerization of deoxyguanosine 5-phosphoro-2-methylimidazolide on a polycytidylate template. Igor A. Kozlov and Leslie E. Orgel
Scanning tunnelling microscopy and molecular modelling of xanthine monolayers self-asembled at the solid-liquid interface: Relevance to the origin of life. Stephen J. Sowerby and George B. Peterson
Chemical reduction of phosphate on the primitive earth. D. Glindemann, R. M. De Graaf and Alan W. Schwartz
Special Issues:
Special Issue of Papers Presented at the 8th ISSOL Meeting in Orleans , France.
Extraterrestrial Organic Matter. A Review. W. M. Irvine.
Graded Autocatalysis Replication Domain (GARD): Kinetic Analysis of Self-Replication in Mutually Catalytic Sets. D. Lancet, S. Segre, O. Kedem and Y. Pilpel.
A Fusion-Fusion Theory for Life. V. Norris and D. J. Raine.
Biogenic Catalysis of Soil Formation on Mars. J. Bishop.
A Search for Extraterrestrial Eukaryotes. Physical and Paleontological Aspects. J. Chela-Flores.
Functional Phylogeny: The Use of the Sensitivity of Ribosomes to Protein Synthesis Inhibitors as a Tool to Study the Evolution of Organisms. C. C. Briones, K. Kroutchev and R. Amils.
The Role of Gene Duplication in the Evolution of Purine Nucleotide Salvage Pathways. A Becerra and A. Lazcano.
From Panspermia to Bioastronomy, the Evolution of the Hypothesis of a Universal Life F. Raulin Cerceau, M.-C. Maurel and J. Schnieder.
The Diffuse Interstellar Bands. A Tracer for Organics in the Diffuse Interstellar Medium? F. Salama.
Structural Investigations of Hydrogen Cyanide Polymers. New Insights Using TMAH Thermochemolysis/GC-MS. R. D. Minard, P. G. Hatcher, R. C. Gourley, and C. N. Matthews.
Biomarkers as Tracers for Life on Early Earth and Mars. B. R. T. Simoneit, R. E. Summons and L. Jahnke.
Evolution of the Structure and Chromosomal Distribution of Histidine Biosynthetic Genes. R. Fani, E. Mori, E, Tamburini and A. Lazcano.
A Search for Extraterrestrial Amino Acids in Carbonaceous Antarctic Micrometeorites. K. L. F. Brinton, C. Engrand, D. P. Glavin, J. L. Bada, and M. Maurette.
Carbonaceous Micrometeorites and the Origin of Life. M. Maurette.
About Various Definitions of Life. P. L. Luisi.
Observation of Indigenous Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in ŌGiantÕ Carbonaceous Antarctic Micrometeorites S. J. Clement, X. D. F. Chillier, S. Gillette, R. N. Zare, M. Maurette, C. Engrand, and G. Kurat.
Formation of RNA Oligomers on Montmorillonite: Site of Catalysis. G. Ertem and J. P. Ferris.
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