Question_5 : The prebiotic soup model of chemical evolution is a well-accepted model for the development of life on earth. Do you agree with this hypothesis? If it is yes, justify your answer.

 Question-5 : The prebiotic soup model of chemical evolution is a well-accepted model for the development of life on earth. Do you agree with this hypothesis? If it is yes, justify your answer.

Answer : prebiotic soup is also known as primordial soup

Chemical evolution in primordial soup:

1. Primordial soup refers to the solution containing organic molecules that were present in the water bodies in the primitive phase of earth.
2. Oparin and Haldane theorized that the first life formed on earth obtained their nutrition from the organic content.
3. Based on this hypothesis, the early atmosphere of the earth was reducing in nature, with little or no oxygen.
4. The UV rays entering the atmosphere catalyzed the reaction between water, ammonia, and carbon dioxide.
5. This reaction led to the formation of simple sugars, proteins, and fatty acids which then accumulated to form a hot dilute soup.
6. Sugars combined to form polysaccharides and the fatty acids gave rise to lipids. Proteins in the form of amino acids reacted with sugars and phosphate molecules to form nucleotides.
7. The nucleotides united to form full-length nucleic acids and initiate chemical evolution.
8. Thus, from this organic content, the first organisms were formed.

Definition

The primordial soup is a generic term that describes the aqueous solution of organic compounds that accumulated in primitive water bodies of the early Earth as a result of endogenous abiotic syntheses and the extraterrestrial delivery by cometary and meteoritic collisions, and from which some have assumed that the first living systems evolved.

Overview

The term “primordial soup” and its synonyms are linked to the proposal of the heterotrophic theory of the origin of life, which was suggested independently in the 1920s by Alexander I. Oparin, John B. S. Haldane, and few others. Based on the simplicity and ubiquity of fermentative reactions, Oparin and Haldane proposed that the first organisms must have been heterotrophic bacteria that could not make their own food but obtained organic material present in the primitive milieu. In order to support his proposal, Oparin appealed not only to astronomical observations that had shown that...