Thermophiles: The Keys to the Molecular Evolution and the Origin of Life?

Book Cover......Page 1
Title......Page 4
Contents......Page 5
Preface page......Page 14
Contributors......Page 18
The Early Earth......Page 22
Do the Geological and Geochemical Records of the Early Earth Support the Prediction from Global Phylogenetic Models of a Thermophilic Cenancestor?......Page 24
The Early Diversification of Life and the Origin of the Three Domains: A Proposal......Page 40
Life was Thermophilic for the First Two-thirds of Earth History......Page 54
The Origin of Life......Page 66
The Case for a Hyperthermophilic, Chemolithoautotrophic Origin of Life in an Iron-Sulfur World......Page 68
The Emergence of Metabolism from Within Hydrothermal Systems......Page 80
The Emergence of Life from FeS Bubbles at Alkaline Hot Springs in an Acid Ocean......Page 98
Facing Up to Chemical Realities: Life Did Not Begin at the Growth Temperatures of Hyperthermophiles......Page 148
Nucleic Acid-based Phylogenies......Page 156
Were our Ancestors Actually Hyperthermophiles? Viewpoint of a Devil's Advocate......Page 158
Hyperthermophilic and Mesophilic Origins of the Eukaryotic Genome......Page 168
Gene Exchange and Evolution......Page 184
Deciphering the Molecular Record for the Early Evolution of Life: Gene Duplication and Horizontal Gene Transfer......Page 186
Lateral Gene Exchange, an Evolutionary Mechanism for Extending the Upper or Lower Temperature Limits for Growth of Microorganisms? A Hypothesis......Page 198
Evidence in Anaerobic Fungi of Transfer of Genes Between Them from Aerobic Fungi, Bacteria and Animal Hosts......Page 208
Enzyme-based Phylogenies......Page 220
DNA Topoisomerases, Temperature Adaptation, and Early Diversification of Life......Page 222
Aminoacyl-tRNA Syntetases: Evolution of a Troubled Family......Page 238
The Evolutionary History of Carbamoyltransferases: Insights on the Early Evolution of the Last Universal Common Ancestor......Page 252
Enzyme Evolution......Page 262
Evolution of the Histone Fold......Page 264
Comparative Enzymology as an Aid to Understanding Evolution......Page 276
Pyrophosphate-dependent Phosphofructokinases in Thermophilic and Nonthermophilic Microorganisms......Page 290
Membrane Evolution......Page 300
sn-Glycerol-1-phosphate Dehydrogenase: A Key Enzyme in the Biosynthesis of Ether Phospholipids in Archaea......Page 302
From the Common Ancestor of all Living Organisms to Protoeukaryotic Cell......Page 308
Life at High Temperature......Page 318
Primitive Coenzymes and Metabolites in Archaeal/Thermophilic Metabolic Pathways......Page 320
3-Phosphoglycerate Kinase and Triose-phosphate Isomerase from Hyperthermophilic Archaea: Features of Biochemical Thermoadaptation......Page 332
The Evolutionary Significance of the Metabolism of Tungsten by Microorganisms Growing at 100C......Page 346
Index......Page 360