Abiogenesis

Monday 10/8/2012 5:01 AM

Yesterday I read an article about abiogenesis, the theory of how life arose from chemical processes.  I also viewed a couple of videos that attempted to explain how self-replicating cells could form from simple fatty acids like stearic and oleic acid.  According to one video, these fatty acids, under a specific pH, spontaneously form vesicles that are permeable to organic molecules, so there is no need for complex proteins to move the organic molecules across a cell membrane.  These vesicles absorb other free fatty acids because of the laws of thermodynamics.  When the vesicle grows it forms branched, tubular structures, which can easily be divided by mechanical means such as wave action, currents, rocks and so forth.  When divided none of the material inside the vesicle is lost.  The video then goes on to explain that the prebiotic environment contained hundreds of different types of nucleotides.  Recent experiments have shown that some of these, like Phosphoramidate DNA, are capable of spontaneous polymerization.  According to the video this can occur by simple chemistry, without the need for special sequencing.  This theory suggests that the fatty acid vesicles are permeable to nucleotide monomers but not nucleotide polymers.  So it absorbs the monomers, which then undergo spontaneous polymerization and become trapped inside the vesicle.  These vesicles are then moved by convection currents near thermal vents in the ocean floor where high temperatures separate the polymer strands and increase the membrane’s permeability to additional nucleotide monomers.  The vesicles with polymers then “eat” each the ones with monomers, causing them to replicate faster and eventually dominate the population.  The information needed for living cells would be selected for because it would replicate faster than the others.

Needless to say, I was somewhat befuddled by the “simple” explanation.  It still seems highly improbable that the necessary information for even the simplest living organism could be formed through this arbitrary process.  My devotional reading today included Hebrews 6:3, “By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made our of what was visible.”  I also read Psalm 92:4-5, “For you make me glad by your deeds, Lord; I sing for joy at what your hands have done.  How great are your works, Lord, how profound your thoughts!”  Many in the scientific community view me as an ignorant fool, believing a myth, but I think it takes more faith to believe their explanation than it takes to believe in God.  The mathematical probability seems astronomically small that abiogenesis could happen at all, let alone lead to the complex molecules that exist in even the simplest living cells.  Perhaps someday I can find a scientist with the knowledge and patience necessary to explain it all to me.