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Origins of Life and Evolution of Biospheres
Volume 40 Numbers 45 October 2010
Special Issue: Workshop OQOL09: OPEN QUESTIONS ON THE ORIGINS OF LIFE 2009Guest Editors: Kepa Ruiz-Mirazo Pier Luigi Luisi
Open Questions on the Origins of Life: Introduction to the Special Issue
P.L. Luisi K. Ruiz-Mirazo 353
Contingency and Determinism in the Origin of Life-and Elsewhere P.L. Luisi 356
Determinism vs. Contingency: A False Dichotomy
S.D. Mitchell 361
Was the Emergence of Life on Earth a Likely Outcome of Chemical Evolution?A. Pohorille 362
On Question 1: Contingency vs. DeterminismV. Norris A. Delaune 365
An Epistemology of Contingency: Chance and Determinism at the Origin of LifeL. Bich G. Bocchi L. Damiano 370
Gdel, Biology and Emergent PropertiesA. Moya 375
The Chemistry that Preceded Lifes Origin: When is an Evolutionary Story an Emergent Story?S. Pizzarello 378
On EmergenceS. Kauffman 381
Emergence of Self-Movement as a Precursor to Darwinian EvolutionM. Hanczyc T. Ikegami 383
Emerging Properties in the Origins of Life and Darwinian EvolutionA. Pohorille 384
On Question 2: EmergenceV. Norris Y. Grondin 386
The Combination of Chemical, Biochemical, and Geological Arguments Favours Heterotrophic Scenarios
R. Pascal 391
Experimental Model Protocells Support a Heterotrophic Origin of Life S.S. Mansy 394
The Autotrophic Origins Paradigm and Small-Molecule OrganocatalysisE. Smith H. Morowitz 397
On Question 3: Heterotrophic Versus Autotrophic ScenariosT. Alpermann K. Rdel R. Rger N. Knoepffler A. Fahr W. Weigand 402
On the Origin of Catalytic CyclesS. Kauffman 406
Properties of Catalytic CyclesP. Schuster 407
On the Origin of Specific Macromolecular Sequences, Catalytic Cycles and the RNA World: The Ligand-Imprinting HypothesisT. Ueda 411
On the Origin of Catalytic CyclesR. Shapiro 413
On the Development Towards the Modern World: A Plausible Role of Uncoded Peptides in the RNA WorldM.J. Belousoff C. Davidovich A. Bashan A. Yonath 415
Excursions in an RNA WorldP. Schuster 420
On the Likelihood of the Abiotic Formation of RNA MoleculesR. Shapiro 423
Linking the RNA World to Modern Life: The Proto-Ribosome ConceptionA. Bashan M.J. Belousoff C. Davidovich A. Yonath 425
A Model for the Modular Evolution of RNA Addressing Open Questions on the Origin of LifeC. Briones M. Stich S.C. Manrubia 429
The Prebiotic Synthesis of RNA and pre-RNAJ. Cleaves 433
Commentary on Plausibility of an RNA WorldA. Pross 434
Liquid Crystal Self-Assembly of Nucleic...