> From: nospam{at}nospam.com (Paul Ciszek)
> ... since DNA is how we identify life forms and
> the relationships between them, anything more primitive goes unnoticed.
> Some theories involve some form of self-replicating structures before
> DNA was developed, incorporated, enslaved, whatever; how would we trace
> the lineage of whatever that was with the tools we currently have?  If
> there are still pre-DNA life forms living in volcanic vents somewhere,
> perhaps being gobbled up by DNA-bearing cells, would we know?  Any samples
> of slime scraped off of the rocks would be examined for things that look
> like cells, and tested for DNA; unless you were specifically looking for
> it, would anyone notice anything simpler?

The same logic applies to the gunk produced by the Urey-Miller
experiments. A general chemical analysis showed lots of amino acids and
other organic compouned, and a cursory visual analysis showed no
buggers crawling around in the apparatus. But between those extremes we
have no information because we never looked for it. Do we know what
specific chemical reactions produced the amino acids etc. that we
observed to be present? Did simple chemicals such as cyanide and
formaldehyde and ammonia spontaneously link to form amino acids, or did
a catalyst get produced which then aided production of amino acids, or
did a catalytic loop (a simple replicator) get created which grew
exponentially and produced large amounts of catalyst to make amino
acides? A few weeks ago I proposed an experiment to test these
possibilities: To test for presence of a catalyst, inject a sample of
the final result from one experiment into a virgin experiment which has
the primitive chemicals but no spark or UV to start action, and see
whether any interesting chemicals are produced. Or inject such a sample
into a Miller-Urey apparatus that is just starting, to see whether it
gets results faster than when not primed. If results from that are
positive, i.e. a catalyst seems to be really present and somewhat
responsible for the good yields, then do a chain of infections to see
whether any kind of actual replicator is present. Has anybody ever done
these tests?
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