CAS BI 108 Chapter Notes - Chapter 4: Protein Structure, Chemical Evolution
Document Summary
The nucleic acids dna and rna are polymers made up of nucleotide monomers. The sequence of nucleotides in dna carries the information that is used by rna to specify primary protein structure. The genetic information in dna is passed from generation to generation and can be used to understand evolutionary relationships. 4. 2 how and where did the small molecules of life originate: experiments disproved the spontaneous generation of life, life began in water, life may have come from outside earth, prebiotic synthesis experiments model early earth. Water is an essential ingredient for the emergence of life. Meteorites that have landed on earth provide some evidence for an extraterrestrial origin of life. Chemical synthesis experiments provide support for the idea that life"s simple molecules formed in the prebiotic environment on earth. 4. 3 how did the large molecules of life originate: chemical evolution may have led to polymerization, rna may have been the first biological catalyst.
