著者

小林 憲正

出版者

生命の起原および進化学会

雑誌

Viva Origino (ISSN:09104003)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.36, no.4, pp.77-82, 2008 (Released:2022-01-18)

参考文献数

34

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A great number of experiments have been done to examine possible prebiotic formation of bioorganic compounds such as amino acids in possible primitive environments. There are two scenario of prebiotic formation of bioorganic compounds: An endogenous formation scenario and an exogenous formation scenario. The latter scenario was supported by the facts that a wide variety of organic compounds were detected in meteorites and comets. It is now suggested that organic compounds in extraterrestrial bodies were originally formed in extremely cold environments such as in molecular clouds. Laboratory experiments showed that complex precursors of amino acids could be formed from simulated interstellar media by irradiation with high-energy particles. It was suggested that such extraterrestrial organic compounds were delivered mainly by cosmic dusts. We have, however, very limited information on organic compounds in cosmic dusts since they are captured within terrestrial environments. We proposed a novel astrobiology mission “Tanpopo” by utilizing the international space station. In the mission, cosmic dusts will be collected with ultra-low-density aerogel, and organic compounds in them will be analyzed. In the mission, organic compounds simulating extraterrestrial organics will be directly exposed to solar ultraviolet light and cosmic rays at the same time to study the fate of organic compounds in cosmic dusts near the Earth orbit.

著者

山岸 明彦

出版者

生命の起原および進化学会

雑誌

Viva Origino (ISSN:09104003)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.49, no.2, pp.6, 2021 (Released:2021-11-25)

参考文献数

87

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In my college age, I read the Japanese translation of “The Origin of Life” written by Oparin, though understood a little. During graduate school and postdoctoral position in Japan and USA, I started the research experience in the field of photosynthesis. After returning back to Japan, I started the research career in Tokyo Institute of Technology, where I started the research on the structure of genomic DNA of archaebacteria. We analyzed the characteristics of the last universal common ancestor, which we named Commonote commonote, and found that the species was hyper-thermophilic, based on the experimental results obtained by reproducing an enzyme possessed by C. commonote, in Tokyo University of Pharmacy and Life Sciences. Then, we started the research on microbiota in deep see hydrothermal system as well as high atmosphere. Later, we started the space experiment Tanpopo on the International Space Station. The research field is now called Astrobiology.   There are ample of research results related to the RNA-origin of life. The ribonucleotides were produced nonbiologically in aqueous media by a reaction process with drying steps. The ribonucleotides were polymerized without biological catalyst. RNA-replicating ribozyme with the length of 200 nucleotides capable of replicating 200-nucleotide-long template has been reported. The process from the protocell containing self-replicating ribozyme surrounded by lipid membrane to the last universal common ancestor Commonote commonote is proposed.

著者

中川 和道

出版者

生命の起原および進化学会

雑誌

Viva Origino (ISSN:09104003)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.43, no.3, pp.22-27, 2015 (Released:2021-12-04)

参考文献数

22

著者

藤井 紀子

出版者

生命の起原および進化学会

雑誌

Viva Origino (ISSN:09104003)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.37, no.Supplement, pp.1-58, 2009 (Released:2022-01-18)

著者

八木 創太 田上 俊輔

出版者

生命の起原および進化学会

雑誌

Viva Origino (ISSN:09104003)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.50, no.1, pp.1, 2022 (Released:2022-04-20)

参考文献数

56

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Proteins are essential biomolecules that are responsible for nearly all biological processes. Therefore, understanding the origin and evolution of proteins is necessary to solve the mystery of the origin of life. Although many modern proteins have huge and complex structures, they are thought to have originated from shorter and simpler peptides. However, how simple such ancient peptides were is still a mystery. The authors have recently demonstrated that a DPBB structure, one of the ancient protein folds conserved in the active cores of RNA polymerase and other proteins, can be constructed with a peptide consisting of 43 residues of seven amino acid types.

著者

田村 浩二

出版者

生命の起原および進化学会

雑誌

Viva Origino (ISSN:09104003)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.48, no.2, pp.2, 2020 (Released:2021-11-05)

著者

今井 栄一

出版者

生命の起原および進化学会

雑誌

Viva Origino (ISSN:09104003)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.49, no.4, pp.14, 2021 (Released:2021-12-18)

参考文献数

21

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A flow reactor simulating a submarine hydrothermal system was constructed for examining the likelihood of oligopeptide synthesis from amino acids in chemical evolution. In the flow reactor, is a high-temperature and high-pressure fluids was injected into a low-temperature chamber maintained at almost the same high pressure as the fluid and it is a non-equilibrium open system reactor that is constantly supplies reactants and thermal energy. Here, I describe the configuration of the flow reactor, the experimental results using it, and the problem of the flow reactor as experimental tool for simulating hydrothermal environments.

著者

藤田 耕司

出版者

生命の起源および進化学会運営局

雑誌

Viva origino (ISSN:09104003)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.31, no.2, pp.104-121, 2003-06-30

参考文献数

9

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Generative grammar constitutes one major branch of theoretical linguistics, but its more important role as biolinguistics can be found in the interdisciplinary field of human biology. By exploring one particular instance of the cognitive faculties of our species, i.e, the Language Faculty (or the Language Organ), researchers in generative grammar/biolinguistics aim to elucidate the fundamental properties of human intelligence, or human nature itself. In this paper, we overview the main topics of generative grammar/biolinguistics to see how deeply they are intertwined with those of modern biology. In particular, we take a new and enlightening look at the familiar issues of the nature, acquisition and evolution of the human language, its universality and diversity, and its economy and redundancy. These are here rephrased in terms of three different levels of genesis of language, i.e., microgenesis, ontogenesis, and phylogenesis, in the hope that their possible unification may be forthcoming.

著者

Caglioti Luciano Hajdu Csongor Holczknecht Orsolya Zekany Laszlo Zucchi Claudia Micskei Karoly Palyi Gyula

出版者

文部省科学研究費総合研究(B)「原始地球上における生命の起源に関する研究」班

雑誌

Viva origino (ISSN:09104003)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.34, no.2, pp.62-80, 2006

参考文献数

132

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The traditional concept of racemates means an exactly 1:1 mixture of two enantiomeric molecules. Modern analytical and catalytic/preparative discoveries, first of all the Soai-reaction, make necessary a re-evaluation of this concept. The most important aspect of such a revision is the definition of the amount of an excess of one or of the other enantiomer, originating from statistical fluctuation, which can still be "tolerated" when a substance is defined as racemate. The present paper discusses the statistical view of racemates and some related problems.

著者

西村 勉 毛利 佳年雄 福島 雅典

出版者

文部省科学研究費総合研究(B)「原始地球上における生命の起源に関する研究」班

雑誌

Viva origino (ISSN:09104003)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.36, no.1, pp.44-50, 2009

参考文献数

80

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A number of ecological and evolutionary patterns or 'rules' dealing with body size have been proposed over the years, the most prominent being Bergmann's rule, Cope's rule, and Rensch's rule. The mechanisms underlying these patterns remain enigmatic. We focused on the relationship between magnetic field (MF) exposure and animal body size because Bergmann's rule holds that organisms tend to be larger at higher latitudes, where the geomagnetic field is more than two fold stronger than at lower latitudes. We researched the relationship between electromagnetic field (EMF) exposure and change in animal body weight using data in the literature. We conducted a meta-regression analysis to examine the impact of EMF exposure on animal weight as compared with the weight of unexposed controls. Meta-regression showed that EMF exposure had a statistically significant positive association with relative weight in males but not in females. The increase in body weight would explain Rensch's rule. The increase in the relative weights of males would explain Bergmann's and Cope's rules. Over successive generations, animals would gradually gain a considerable amount of body size if environmental MF and/or EMF become stronger over the course of time, which explains Cope's rule.

著者

中川 和道

出版者

生命の起原および進化学会

雑誌

Viva origino (ISSN:09104003)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.37, no.1, pp.24-30, 2010-03-01

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Radiation might play an important role during chemical evolution in space. We discuss here the role of circularly polarized vacuum ultraviolet radiation to prepare the enantiomeric enrichment of amino acids.

著者

Matsuno Koichiro

出版者

生命の起原および進化学会

雑誌

Viva origino (ISSN:09104003)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.39, no.1, pp.11-18, 2012-06-20

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Unless the stipulation of the detailed balance is forcibly imposed on a theoretical ground of whatever type, chemical reactions proceeding there could already be selective internally. What is in place instead is the detour balance that can allow the participation of intermediary reactions in implementing the overall balancing in the involved chemical reactions. The evolutionary nature of chemical reactions in the absence of the detailed balance rests upon the persistent imbalance, even though the slightest one, between a direct pair of the forward and the backward reactions. Some reaction products being set free from the stipulation of the detailed balance can exhibit the chemical affinities that were not actualized in the initial reactants. The lack of the mutual consistency between the reactants and their chemical affinities makes the reactions internally selective and evolutionary, and could have implemented a selective process even prior to the onset of Darwinian natural selection. One likely candidate for constantly breaking the mutual consistency between the reactants and their chemical affinities on the primitive Earth could have been those chemical reactions riding on hydrothermal circulation of seawater around the hot vents in the ocean.

著者

池原 健二

出版者

生命の起原および進化学会

雑誌

Viva origino (ISSN:09104003)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.37, no.1, pp.47-51, 2010-03-01

参考文献数

16

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RNAが遺伝的機能と触媒機能を同時に持ち得ることを主な根拠として,RNAワールド仮説が1986年にW.Gilbertによって提案された.彼は,生命はRNAの自己複製によって形成されたRNAワールドから生まれたと考えたのだ.そしてこの考えが,現時点では生命の起原を説明するための主な考えとなっている.しかし,この仮説はヌクレオチドやRNAを無生物的に生成することが困難であるなど多くの問題を抱えている.それに対して,私たちは生命はGly[G],Ala[A],Asp[D]そして,Val[V]の4種のアミノ酸からなるタンパク質で構成された[GADV]-タンパク質ワールドから生まれたとの[GADV]-タンパク質ワールド仮説,略して,GADV仮説を提案している.一般に,既存の考えとは大きく異なる考えを新たに生み出すためには,新しい概念の導入が必要である.私たちの主張する生命の起原の提案にとっては,タンパク質のデータ解析から得られたタンパク質の0次構造,即ち,高い確率で水溶性で球状のタンパク質をランダム重合によって合成できる特異なアミノ酸組成という新しい概念の導入が重要なポイントとなった.即ち,遺伝的機能の存在しない条件下,言い換えれば,最初の遺伝子が形成される以前であっても,水溶性で球状の[GADV]-タンパク質を[GADV]-アミノ酸のランダム重合によって高い確率で生成できるという一つのタンパク質の0次構造に気づいたことが生命の起原に関する新たな概念を生み出したのである.本論文ではタンパク質の0次構造を中心に記載する一方で,私達の主張するGADV仮説の可能性も議論したい.

著者

杉田 精司

出版者

生命の起原および進化学会

雑誌

Viva origino (ISSN:09104003)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.33, no.3, pp.212-214, 2005-09-30

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地球に生命が誕生したのは今から40億年程度も昔であると考えてられているが、その当時の地質学的記録はほとんど残っていない。しかし、火星表面には、地質学的記録を保持した地層が数多く残っており、生命が誕生した当時の環境が火星探査によって明らかにされる可能性がある。一方のタイタンは、非常に還元的な大気を持ち、宇宙線や紫外光などのエネルギーによって、さまざまな無生物的有機反応が起きている。タイタンにおける無生物的有機反応を詳細に調べれば、原始地球の大気に於ける分子進化過程に関する新しい知見を得られる可能性がある。本セッションでは、生命の起源に深い関連を持つこれらの2つの星について、最新の探査結果と研究紹介がなされた。