Re: What did the first Organic Thingamadoodle eat?

Bill Burnett (bbur@dml.ac.uk)
16 Dec 1996 12:59:00 GMT

The organic thingamadoodle probably "survived" by oxidising highly
reduced molecules that were floating around at the time. As these got
used up, the thingamadoodles started to make their own and the electron
transfer chain evolved. Things get yet more scarce and we get such
exciting biochemical pathways as glycolysis, Krebs', and Calvin cycles in
simple single celled organisms. These are sequestered by larger cells
and we have the first eukaryotes. A few billion years later Ed appears
and denies any of it ever happened - living proof that evolution doesn't
always move towards higher complexity.

B.

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Bill Burnett bbur@dml.ac.uk
Scottish Association for Marine Science
P.O.Box 3, Oban, Argyll, Scotland