Origin Of Genes And Metabolism

Front 1

What are the minimal requirements for life?

Back 1

catalysis, response to the environment, growth, metabolism, heredity

Front 2

What was the first molecule of life? DNA or RNA?

Back 2

RNA was the initial molecule of life

Front 3

Ribozyme

Back 3

catalytic RNA molecule

Front 4

ligase

Back 4

puts things together

Front 5

RNA molecules are self complimentary...this means?

Back 5

They coil into 3D structures

Front 6

Since RNA molecules are self complimentary, can they be templates for their own synthesis?

Back 6

Yes

Front 7

RNA molecules can for enzymes that show what?

Back 7

polymerase and ligase activities

Front 8

Polymerase adds ___ while ligases put _____together

Back 8

bases, segments

Front 9

What is the hypothesis on the evolution of the genetic code?

Back 9

1). The first codons were GNC; the first amino acids were valine
alanine, aspartate, glycine (hydrophobic, polar, charged, turnable)
• most common amino acids in Miller-Urey experiments
• most common amino acids in Murchison meteorites
2). 4 original codons/anticodons started coding for groups of amino
acids:
• GUC -- valine/isoleucine/leucine (hydrophobic)
• GCC -- alanine/threonine/proline/serine (neutral polar)
• GAC -- aspartate/glutamate (charged)
• GGC -- glycine (flexible)
3). RNAs with the anticodons developed new abilities…
• to bind the corresponding amino acids
• to make the binding covalent
• to drop ambiguity by evolving anticodons for the different amino
acids
4). Through cycles of mutation (of the anticodons and the 3D
structures) and selection, these RNAs developed binding to new
amino acids.

Front 10

After forming amino acids, what is the essential next step in the process of creating a genetic code?

Back 10

peptide bonds

Front 11

Why are most well expressed genes transcribed in the direction of replication?

Back 11

Related to leading vs lagging strands in replication

Front 12

For that weird picture with the yellow and pink genes, which is one side more colored than the other?

Back 12

The genes on either side are more intact, meaning there are no gaps, which is more efficient

Front 13

How efficient are viruses/ bacteria's genome compared to eukaryotes?

Back 13

Prokaryotes have more efficient genome than eukaryotes because eukaryotes have a lot of gaps in them

Front 14

RNA shows a combination of what characteristics essential for life?

Back 14

catalysis, heredity, evolution

Front 15

Genomes may have evolves to put essential, highly-expressed genes near the ______ and on the strand that is ______ during replication.

Back 15

origin, "leading"

Front 16

The genetic code may have arisen through a link between what...

Back 16

GXC nucleotide triplets and common amino acids (valine, alanine, aspartic acid, glycine)

Front 17

The genetic code may have arisen through a link between what...

Back 17

GXC nucleotide triplets and common amino acids (valine, alanine, aspartic acid, glycine)

Front 18

What are stromatolites?

Back 18

layered rocks formed under think microbial mats

Front 19

What were the oldest actual fossils thought to be of?

Back 19

cyanobacteria

Front 20

How old are the oldest fossils dated back to?

Back 20

3.5-3.6 billion years ago

Front 21

How can you tell fossil stromatolites from normal rock layers?

Back 21

Stromatolites layers are curved because they were formed by organisms rather than the gravity on sediment of the Earth

Front 22

Where were the stromatolites form in Bill Schopf's study?

Back 22

Apex chert in Wester Australia

Front 23

What did Martin Brasier, opposer of Schopf's claim that stromatolites had been cyanobacteria, think the fossils were?

Back 23

inorganic carbonaceous precipitates

Front 24

Methanogens produce methane by reducing what....

Back 24

carbon dioxide

Front 25

How do stromatolites grow?

Back 25

1. Bacterial slime catches fine silt at high tide
2. Photosynthesis uses up CO2 and makes it easy for carbonate to crystallize on the mats (then the bacteria go up and the process repeats)

Front 26

Hypothesis: stromatolites 3.5 billion years ago were
produced by organisms that:

Back 26

•existed in an anaerobic environment
•produced slime
•took up CO2

Front 27

What is the clue stromatolites are more complex than they seem.

Back 27

There may be eight different zones in a stromatolite, each
with its own microenvironment and each only a few millimeters
thick. The zones vary from super-rich in oxygen...to zones
without oxygen or light, saturated with H2S (hydrogen
sulfide). (

Front 28

Some Archea reduce ____ using _____ as a reductant

Back 28

CO2, H2

Front 29

What color bacteria fix Co2 in anaerobic conditions?

Back 29

Green and purple

Front 30

What was the most important evolutionary innovation, leading to a wide range of adaptations?

Back 30

Origin of eukarya

Front 31

Plasma membrane hypothesis

Back 31

Cell formed by plasma membrane folding inwards to form everything else

Front 32

Mimivirus hypothesis

Back 32

Giant marine DNA virus formed the nucleus

Front 33

Endosymbiosis hypothesis

Back 33

! Nucleus from symbiosis of
archaean in bacterium
(or vice versa)
! Mitochondria from symbiosis
of alpha-proteobacterium
(includes E. coli, non-sulfur
purple photosynthetic bacteria,
Kreb cycle?) in nucleated host
! Plastid from symbiosis of
photosynthetic bacterium in
nucleated host

Front 34

What are the evidences for the endosymbiosis hypothesis?

Back 34

Structural similarities between plastids (and mitochondria)
and bacteria.

Present day endosymbioses show ease of symbiosis

Front 35

***
Although there are claims relating ancient stromatolytes
to modern, cyanobacterial stromatolytes, the first cells
lived in an ______ environment and most likely did not get energy from ___________
_____________.

Back 35

anoxic, oxygenic photosynthesis.

Front 36

***
The first cells ever were prokaryotic or eukaryotic?

Back 36

prokaryotic

Front 37

***
Endosymbiosis involving _______ and ________ produced eukaryotic cells.

Back 37

bacteria and archaea