Origins of Life: On Earth and in the Cosmos / Edition 2

by Geoffrey Zubay

Overview

Origins of Life on the Earth and in the Cosmos, Second Edition, suggests answers to the age-old questions of how life arose in the universe and how it might arise elsewhere. This thorough revision of a very successful text describes key events in the evolution of living systems, starting with the creation of an environment suitable for the origins of life. Whereas one may never be able to reconstruct the precise pathway that led to the origin of life on earth, one can certainly make some plausible reconstructions of it. Such discussions have greatly expanded our understanding of the principles of chemical evolution and how they compare and contrast with the principles of biological evolution. The text is strong on biochemistry and its recent applications to origins' research.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780127819105
Publisher:	Elsevier Science
Publication date:	01/04/2000
Series:	Origins of Life Series , #2
Edition description:	REV
Pages:	564
Product dimensions:	7.50(w) x 9.25(h) x (d)

About the Author

Geoffrey Zubay is professor of biology at Columbia University, where he has taught since 1963. He has published numerous articles in his field as well as two textbooks: Principles of Biochemistry (1995), with William W. Parson and Dennis E. Vance, and the First Edition of Origins of Life on the Earth and in the Cosmos (1996). Dr. Zubay received an M.S. degree in physical chemistry from the University of Chicago in 1952 and his Ph.D. degree in physical chemistry from Harvard University in 1957. Dr. Zubay is currently an editorial board member of three scholarly journals, Origins of Life, Chemtracts: Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and Methods: A Companion to Methods in Enzymology. In 1984, he was awarded the Selman A. Waksman Award for Outstanding Contributions to Microbiology.

Table of Contents

Origin of the Universe.Formation of the Elements.Beginnings of Chemistry.Element Abundances of the Planets.Geologic, Hydrologic, and Atmospheric Evolution of the Earth.Cells, Organelles, and Biomolecules.Metabolic Strategies and Pathway Design.Biochemical Catalysis.Storage, Replication, and Utilization of Biochemical Information.General Considerations Concerning the Origin of Life on the Earth.Biochemical Pathways Involving Carbohydrates.Prebiotic Pathways Involving Carbohydrates.Similarities Between the Biosynthesis of Nucleotides and the Prebiotic Synthesis of Nucleotides.RNA Metabolism and the Prebiotic Synthesis of RNA. Amino Acid Synthesis Now and Then.Chemistry of Translation.Early Developments in Polypeptide Synthesis.Lipid Metabolism and the Prebiotic Synthesis of Lipids.Properties of Membranes and Their Evolution.Possible Roles of Clays and Minerals in the Origin of Life.Evolution of Organisms.Evolution of the Main Energy-Producing Pathway for Aerobic Metabolism: The Tricarboxylic Acid Cycle.Evolution of Photosynthesis.Origin and Elaboration of the Genetic Code.

Editorial Reviews

Praise for the First Edition"... as a textbook, the book contains a lot of helpful figures... many of the older researchers (and hopefully some younger students too) will surely enjoy having all this information collected in a book which will become a kind of faithful companion. Geoff's book has enough of the required qualities to become such a friend." —ORIGINS OF LIFE AND EVOLUTION OF THE BIOSPHER "Geoffrey Zubay's Origins of Life on the Earth and in the Cosmos is the most readable and even-handed general treatment of the problem of the origins of life since Miller and Orgel's 1974 monograph." —GERALD F. JOYCE, Scripps Research Institute

From the Publisher

Zubay (prebiotic chemistry, Columbia U.) presents a college-level textbook introducing the key events in the evolution of living systems, with an emphasis on precellular events. The focus of the text is on the experimental scientific investigation of the chemical origins of life, although the origins of specific organisms and organic systems is treated in a few chapters. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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