18.) Fungi-like saprophytes are efficient decomposers. They carry out extracellular digestion i.e. breaking complex molecules like starch or cellulose into simple sugars for assimilation outside the cell. Design a simple experiment to visualize this phenomenon of digestion.

 18.) Fungi-like saprophytes are efficient decomposers. They carry out extracellular digestion i.e. breaking complex molecules like starch or cellulose into simple sugars for assimilation outside the cell. Design a simple experiment to visualize this phenomenon of digestion.

answers:

• Miller questioned if complex organic molecules can indeed be synthesized from the simple molecules present in Earth’s early atmosphere

• Researchers postulate that most of the critical reactions in • chemical evolution occurred in an aqueous, or water-based

 • Miller’s experimental setup was designed to produce a microcosm of early Earth

• The large glass flask represented the atmosphere and contained the gases CH4 , NH3 , and H2 , all of which have high potential energy

• This large flask was connected to a smaller flask by a glass tube which represented a tiny ocean holding 200 mL of water • Miller boiled the water constantly which added water vapor to the mixture of gases in the large flask • As the vapour cooled and condensed, it flowed back into the smaller flask, where it boiled again with water vapor circulating continuously • If the molecules in the simulated atmosphere reacted with one another, the “rain” would carry them into the mini-ocean forming a “prebiotic soup”

• The production of more complex molecules from simple molecules in Miller’s experiment supported his claim about the formation of a prebiotic soup

• The results came under fire, however, when other researchers pointed out that the early atmosphere was dominated by volcanic gases like CO, CO2 , and H