The Origin of Life: A Problem of History, Chemistry, and Evolution
The Origin of Life: A Problem of History, Chemistry, and Evolution
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DOI：
10.1002/cbdv.201400188
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发表时间：
2014-12-01
影响因子：
2.9
通讯作者：
Ma, Wentao
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Ma, Wentao
生命起源是一个充满争议的领域，不仅因为我们对相关问题的模糊理解，而且，也许更多的时候，是因为我们在整个领域的概念框架模糊。为了改善这种情况，在这里提出了一个深入的概念解剖。它阐明了生命起源的核心有三个方面。这一过程所涉及的事实被视为历史方面，这注定是不确定的，往往与关于细节的辩论无关。所涉及的规则包括两个不同的方面：化学机制在整个过程中起作用，而进化机制只是在第一个达尔文实体出现之后才加入进来-然后解释了随后的复杂性积累（这不能仅仅用自然选择来解释）。基本上，我们可以问生命起源中任何假设事件的可能性：“它在进化上是合理的吗？化学上是可行的吗？历史上是可能的吗？”“这三个方面的任何一个线索，都可能对我们探索其他两个方面有很大的指导价值。这种概念性的剖析为该领域提供了一个更清晰的背景，这甚至可能比任何具体的研究都更有用。
The origin of life is a field full of controversies, not only because of our vague understanding concerning the relevant issues, but also, perhaps more often, owing to our dim conceptual framework throughout the whole field. To improve this situation, an in-depth conceptual dissection is presented here. It is elucidated that, at its core, the origin of life has three aspects. The facts involved in the process are taken as the historical aspect, which is destined to be uncertain and often irrelevant to debate regarding details. The rules involved include two distinct aspects: chemical mechanisms operated in the whole process, while evolutionary mechanisms joined in only after the emergence of the first Darwinian entities - and then accounted for the subsequent buildup of complexity (this cannot be explained solely by natural selection). Basically, we can ask about the possibility of any assumed event in the origin of life: 'Is it evolutionarily plausible, chemically feasible, and historically likely?' Clues from any of the three aspects may be quite valuable in directing our explorations on the other two. This conceptual dissection provides a clearer context for the field, which may even be more useful than any sort of specific research.