Chemical Evolution: Structure and Model of the First Cell, Softcover reprint of the original 1st ed. 1995 Conference on the Structure and Model of the First Cell (ICTP) held in Trieste, Italy, 29 August–2 September 1994

This interdisciplinary book consists of the proceedings of the Alexander Ivanovich Oparin lOOth Anniversary Conference, The Third Trieste Conference on Chemical Evolution, which took place at the International Centre for Theoretical Physics from 29 August till 2 September, 1994. A general overview of Oparin's life and work is followed by a review of Alfonso Herera, another pioneer in the studies of the origin of life. The subject matter is organized in ten sections corresponding to various aspects of our current understanding of the subject that was initiated by Oparin. These subjects were covered by fifty three speakers. There were sixty seven participants from a wide geographical distribution; twenty seven countries were represented. We have included the invited lecture of Professor Igor Kulaev, who was unable to be present at the conference for reasons beyond his control. The conference was generously supported by the International Centre for Theoretical Physics, the Commission of the European Communities, the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, the International Centre for Science and High Technology, and UNESCO. Cyril Ponnamperuma, University of Maryland, U.S.A. Julian Chela-Flores, ICTP, Italy, and IDEA, Venezuela. xi FOREWORD As this volume was going to press we learnt of the untimely death of Cyril Ponnamperuma who died of cardiac arrest on December 20, 1994.

The origin of the cell from Oparin to the present day.- Alfonso L. Herrera: A Mexican pioneer in the study of chemical evolution.- Experimental retracement of the origins of a protocell: It was also a protoneuron.- Exobiology on Titan: A reference laboratory for studying prebiotic chemistry on a planetary scale.- Search for Bioorganic Compounds and Organisms on Mars.- Interstellar dust, chirality, comets and the origins of life: Life from dead stars?.- Some aspects of laboratory cometary models.- SETH: The search for extra-terrestrial homochirality.- Age of the oldest rocks with biogenic components: An estimate for the age of the origin of life.- Significance of biogeochemical markers in Precambrian sediments.- Coherent dynamics in water as a possible explanation of biological membranes formation.- Physics underlying the formation of protocells.- A possible route for the formation of protoprotein and its microspheres from primitive gases under possible prebiotic conditions.- Domain protolife: Protocells and metaprotocells within thermal protein matrices.- Chemical synthesis of lipids and the origin of life.- Adsorption interaction on the interface of phase-separated systems. Modeling studies.- Lipid vesicles: Are they plausible primordial aggregates?.- Cell wall biochemistry in Archaea and its phylogenetic implications.- Contribution from coenzyme related molecules to evolution of photoreceptors.- On the origin of biological information.- Linguistics of biomolecules and the protein-first hypothesis for the origins of cells.- Evolution of the cellular communication system: An analysis in the computational paradigm.- Thermodynamics and biological evolution: A motive force of evolution.- On stable spherical configurations of artificial protocells.- Molecular chirality andthe origin of life.- False chirality, CP violation and the breakdown of microscopic reversibility in chiral molecular and elementary particle processes.- Possibilities to measure the parity-violating energy difference.- Low temperature specifie heat anomaly of D-valine.- Inorganic polyphosphate functions at various stages of cell evolution.- Hardware and software in biology: Simultaneous origin of proteins and nucleic acids via hydrogen cyanide polymers.- Phosphoryl amino acids: Common origin for nucleic acids and protein.- A search for symmetries in the genetic code.- Evolutionary roots of genetic code.- A new hypothesis for the origin of life.- Some physical problems in biology: Aspects of the origin and structure of the first cell.- Repetitive elements of protein sequences as fossils of early life.- The first eukaryotic cell-acid hot-spring algae.- Thoughts on the origin and nature of life and intelligence on earth.- The beginning of the first cell.- List of participants.