under extreme conditions (temperatures higher than 100°C) in the depths of
oceans and seas where water under the action of the high pressure is in a
liquid state (see Brock, 1985). All this has a biochemical ground that should
be the subject of further studies.
Evolution of the Cel
Section 1.6. No matter what is the origin of life — whether engendered on
the Earth or brought over from other planets of the Universe in
the “cool cabins” of meteorites or “on the wings of light rays”, its beginning
is in the pre-cell and cell structures. Since the cell underlies the building of
all living organisms inhabiting the planet Earth, its evolution can be
regarded as quintessential in the evolution of living matter from lifeless
matter. Evolutionary development of the cell is greatly diversified owing to
the inexhaustible capacities of matter which has generated it. The great
interest provoked by this problem imposes a closer look into some of the
most important stages of its historical development.
Pre-Cell Evolution
This is for now the least clear stage of the evolutionary development of
living matter and of the emergence of the first cell structures. The difficulties
encountered in the reproduction in laboratory conditions mentioned in
Section 1. 4 and the absence of reliable fossil findings from that period are
the reasons for the fact that the initial stages of their formation and
organization cannot be defined i.e. it is impossible to state how the
“transition from chaos to orderliness has occurred”. This is the first “white
spot” in biology.
Nevertheless, there is a quite sufficient amount of scientific
argumentation concerning that period. At the basis of this phenomenon lies
the allmighty chemical evolution that has led to the formation of organic
compounds serving as construction elements of living nature. A special
significance is attributed to carbon whose atoms have the capacity to bind
and form long chains which together with hydrogen, nitrogen and oxygen
form amino acids — the main protein components.
It is quite logical to assume that at the initial stages of the proteinoid
formation not all of the 20 amino acids known at present day to form the
proteins have taken part. There have been formed emulsion drops similar
to the coacervates, separated from the hydrosphere because of differences
in their physicochemical properties. In this way open systems interacting
with the environment have been generated, known by the appropriate term
— “protobionts”. This period has lasted for millions, probably billions of
years until the specific mechanisms for their self-reproduction have arisen.