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| Preface | |
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| Creation of an Environment Suitable for the Origin of Life | |
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| Origin of the Universe | |
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| Newton's Universe Was Infinite and Static | |
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| Hubble's Universe Was Finite and Expanding | |
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| The Doppler Effect Shows That Almost All Galaxies Are Moving Away from Us | |
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| Rate of Separation and Distance Data Suggest That the Universe Originated about 20 Billion Years Ago | |
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| Quasars Have Anomalously High Redshifts | |
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| Isotropic Background Radiation Is Believed to Be a Remnant of the Big Bang | |
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| Current Evidence Suggests That the Rate of Expansion of the Universe Is Increasing | |
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| Formation of the Elements | |
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| Chemical Composition of the Sun Approximates Chemical Composition of the Universe | |
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| Five Stable Subatomic Particles and Many More Unstable Ones Have Been Identified | |
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| Four Types of Forces Account for All Interactions in the Universe | |
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| Prior to Star Formation the Only Elements Formed in Significant Amounts Were Hydrogen and Helium | |
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| Elements between Helium and Iron Were Produced in the Centers of Stars | |
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| Formation of Elements Heavier Than Iron Starts with Neutron Capture | |
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| Isotopes with Even Numbers of Protons Are Favored in Element Formation | |
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| Beginnings of Chemistry | |
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| Atoms Are Composed of Protons, Neutrons, and Electrons | |
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| Periodic Table Is Arranged To Emphasize Electron Structure | |
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| Atoms Can Combine to Form Molecules | |
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| Ionic Bonds Form between Oppositely Charged Atoms | |
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| Covalent Bonds Form between Atoms That Share Electron Pairs | |
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| Molecular Interactions Are Largely Due to Noncovalent Forces | |
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| Element Abundances of the Planets | |
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| Planets Must Have Formed from the Same Nebula as the Sun | |
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| Planets Differ in Mass, Density, and Composition | |
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| Chemical Clues Concerning Earth's Composition Come from Density Considerations and Analysis of Meteorites | |
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| Terrestrial Abundances of the Elements Are A Function of Element Abundances in the Universe, Chemical Reactions, and Loss of Volatiles | |
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| Jovian Planets Are Most Likely to Have Retained Their Volatiles | |
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| Isotope Dating of Certain Meteorites Indicates That Earth Formed about 4.6 Billion Years Ago | |
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| Geologic, Hydrologic, and Atmospheric Evolution of Earth | |
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| Earth Has a Layered Structure | |
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| Evidence for the Layered Structure Comes from Studies of Seismic Waves | |
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| Core Formation Occurred during the First 100 Million Years of Earth's History | |
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| Continental Movements Reflect Geologic Activity within the Mantle | |
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| Tectonic Plates Are Composed of Old Granites and Young Basalts | |
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| Volcanoes and Quakes Reflect the Existence of Convection Cells in the Upper Mantle | |
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| Liquid Water Covers Two-Thirds of Earth's Surface | |
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| Magnetic Fields Protect Some Planets from the Solar Winds | |
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| Surface Temperature Has Been Delicately Balanced for Almost 4 Billion Years | |
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| Earth's Intermediate Distance from the Sun Has Helped to Moderate Earth's Surface Temperature | |
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| Water and Carbon Dioxide Have Helped to Moderate Earth's Surface Temperature | |
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| Earth's Atmosphere Is Subdivided into Four Regions | |
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| Prebiotic Atmosphere Was a Reducing One | |
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| Logic of Loving Systems | |
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| Cells, Organelles, and Biomolecules | |
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| The Cell Is the Fundamental Unit of Life | |
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| Biomolecules Are Composed of a Small Number of Light Elements | |
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| Biochemical Reactions Are a Subset of Ordinary Chemical Reactions | |
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| Cells and Their Organelles Are Composed of Small Molecules and Macromolecules | |
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| Macromolecules Form Complex Folded Structures | |
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| Metabolic Strategies and Pathway Design | |
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| Thermodynamics Gives Us the Criterion to Determine the Energy Status for a Biochemical Reaction | |
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| Living Cells Require a Steady Supply of Starting Materials and Energy | |
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| Organisms Differ in Sources of Starting Materials, Energy, and Reducing Power | |
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| Reactions Show Functional Coupling | |
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| Thermodynamically Unfavorable Reaction Can Be Made Favorable by Coupling to the Adenosine Triphosphate-Adenosine Diphosphate System | |
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| Reactions Are Organized into Sequences or Pathways | |
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| Sequentially Related Enzymes Are Frequently Clustered | |
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| Activities of Pathways Are Regulated by Controlling the Amounts and Activities of the Enzymes | |
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| Both Anabolic and Catabolic Pathways Are Regulated by the Energy Status of the Cell | |
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| Regulation of Pathways Involves the Interplay of Kinetic and Thermodynamic Factors | |
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| Biochemical Catalysis | |
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| Given Favorable Thermodynamics, Kinetic Factors Determine Which Reactions Can Occur | |
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| All Catalysts Obey the Same Basic Set of Rules | |
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| Enzyme Catalysts Are Highly Selective and Function under Very Mild Conditions | |
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| Each Member of the Trypsin Family of Enzymes Is Specific for Hydrolysis of a Particle Type of Peptide Linkage | |
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| Storage, Replication, and Utilization of Biochemical Information | |
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| DNA and RNA Have Similar Primary Structures | |
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| Most DNAs Exist as Complementary Double-Helix (Duplex) Structures | |
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| Cellular RNAs Form Intricate Folded Structures Interspersed with Double-Helix and Other Motifs | |
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| DNA Replication Exploits the Complementary Structure That Forms between Its Two Polynucleotide Chains | |
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| Transcription Involves the Selective Copying of Specific Regions of Much Longer DNA Chains | |
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| Nascent Transcripts Undergo Extensive Changes Following Synthesis | |
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| Some RNAs Have Catalytic Properties | |
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| Proteins Are Informational Macromolecules | |
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| Cellular Machinery of Protein Synthesis Is Constructed from RNA and Protein Components | |
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| Code Used in Translation Was Deciphered with the Help of Synthetic Messengers | |
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| Biochemical and Prebiotic Pathways: A Comparison | |
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| General Considerations Concerning the Origin of Life on Earth | |
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| Earth and The Origin of Life | |
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| Getting the Chemistry of Life Underway | |
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| Evolutionary Aspects of the Origin of Life | |
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| Experimental Approaches Exist for Studying the Origin of Life | |
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| Biochemical Pathways Involving Carbohydrates | |
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| Breakdown of Sugars (Glycolysis) Follows a Linear Pathway with Many Branchpoints | |
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| Most of the Enzymes Used in Glycolysis Are Used in the Reverse Process of Sugar Synthesis | |
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| Pentose Phosphate Pathway Supplies Ribose and Reducing Power | |
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| Tricarboxylic Acid Cycle Continues the Degradation Process Begun in Glycolysis | |
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| Thermodynamics of the Tricarboxylic Acid Cycle Permits It to Operate in More Than One Way | |
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| Glyoxylate Cycle Permits Growth on a Two-Carbon Source | |
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| Prebiotic Pathways Involving Carbohydrates | |
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| Synthesis of Sugars in the Prebiotic World Is Likely to Have Started with Formaldehyde | |
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| Formaldehyde Was Probably Synthesized in the Prebiotic Atmosphere | |
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| Glycolaldehyde Catalyzes the Incorporation of Formaldehyde into Sugars | |
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| Strongly Basic Conditions Used in the Formose Reaction Are Not Conductive to High Yields of the Aldopentoses | |
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| Under Mildly Basic Conditions Formaldehyde Incorporation into Pentoses and Hexoses Is Greatly Reduced | |
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| Lead (Plumbous) Salts Catalyze Aldopentose Synthesis under Mildly Basic Conditions | |
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| Lead Salts Also Catalyze the Interconversion of Aldopentoses and the Synthesis of Aldopentoses from Tetroses and Hexoses | |
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| High Yields of Ribose 2,4-Bisphosphate Can Be Synthesized under Controlled Conditions from Glycolaldehyde and Formaldehyde | |
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| We Still Face Problems with the Synthesis of Ribose | |
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| Similarities and Differences between the Biosynthesis of Nucleotides and the Prebiotic Synthesis of Nucleotides | |
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| Overview of Nucleotide Metabolism | |
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| Biosynthesis of Purine Ribonucleotides | |
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| Biosynthesis of Pyrimidine Nucleotides | |
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| Prebiotic Synthesis of Nucleotides | |
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| From Purines to Activated Nucleotides | |
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| RNA Metabolism and Prebiotic Synthesis of RNA | |
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| RNA Metabolism | |
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| Prebiotic Synthesis of RNA | |
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| Effectiveness of RNA to Function as a Ribozyme Is Dependent on Its Capacity to Form Complex Folded Structures | |
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| Properties of Known Ribozymes | |
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| Amino Acid Synthesis Now and Then | |
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| Amino Acid Biosynthesis | |
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| Prebiotic Pathways to Amino Acids | |
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| Pioneering Experiments of Miller and Urey Suggest a Prebiotic Route to Amino Acids That Started in the Atmosphere | |
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| Extraterrestrial Sources of Organic Material | |
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| Chemistry of Translation | |
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| Steps in Translation | |
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| Rules for Base Pairing between Transfer RNA and Messenger RNA | |
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| Early Developments in Polypeptide Synthesis | |
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| Noninstructed Synthesis of Polypeptides | |
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| Ribozyme-Instructed Synthesis of Peptides and Polypeptides | |
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| Steps in the Emergence of a Translation System | |
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| Lipid Metabolism and Prebiotic Synthesis of Lipids | |
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| Fatty Acid Degradation | |
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| Biosynthesis of Fatty Acids | |
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| Synthesis of Phospholipids | |
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| Prebiotic Synthesis of Lipids | |
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| Properties of Membranes and Their Evolution | |
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| Structures of Biological Membranes | |
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| Functions of Biological Membranes | |
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| Evolution of Membrane Structure and Function | |
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| Possible Roles of Clays and Minerals in the Origin of Life | |
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| Did "Living Clays" Precede Nucleic Acids? | |
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| Clays Are Complexes of Cationic and Anionic Polymers | |
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| Are Clays Capable of Inheritable Change? | |
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| Could Clays of Unclear Nonclay Minerals Have Aided in the Development of the First Living Systems? | |
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| Evolution of Living Systems | |
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| Evolution of Organisms | |
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| Existing Organisms Have a Common Origin | |
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| Classical Evolutionary Tree Is Based on Morphology | |
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| Biochemical Record | |
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| Recombination and Mutation, The Ultimate Sources of Genetic Variability | |
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| Earth: An Ever-Changing Environment | |
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| Evolution of the Main Energy-Producing Pathway for Aerobic Metabolism: The Tricarboxylic Acid Cycle | |
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| Carbohydrate Metabolism in Anaerobes and Aerobes | |
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| Many Organisms Use Parts of the Krebs Cycle | |
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| Scheme for Evolution of the Tricarboxylic Acid Cycle in Prokaryotes | |
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| Evolution of Photosynthesis | |
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| Photosynthesis Depends on the Photochemical Reactivity of Chlorophyll | |
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| Photosynthesis Arose Early in Evolution and Is Still Widespread among Eubacteria | |
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| Origin and Elaboration of the Genetic Code | |
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| Triplet Code May Have Evolved from a Relaxed Singlet or Doublet Code | |
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| Middle Base in the Codon May Have Been the First One to Acquire Meaning | |
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| Amino Acids with Similar Side Chains Tend to Be Associated with Anticodons That Show Chemical Similarities | |
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| Amino Acids in the Same Biosynthetic Pathway Use Similar Codons | |
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| Amino Acids That Contain Chemically Similar Side Chains Frequently Share Two Code Letters | |
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| There Is a Three-Base Periodicity in the Reading Frames That Reflects Codon Usage | |
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| Synonym Codons Are Used to Varying Extents in a Species-Specific Manner | |
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| The Code is Not Quite Universal | |
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| Rules Regarding Codon-Anticodon Pairing Are Species Specific | |
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| Changes in Codon or Antocodon Use Follow the Route with the Least Number of Steps | |
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| Each Synthase Recognizes a Specific Amino Acid and Specific Regions on Its Cognate tRNA | |
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| Prospectus | |
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| Research on the Origin of Life Is A Unique Endeavour | |
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| Earth's Atmosphere Has Changed A Great Deal in the Course of Time | |
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| A Reducing Atmosphere Is Necessary for the Synthesis of HCN and CH[subscript 2]O | |
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| Phosphorylation of Nucleosides Requires Phosphate Activation | |
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| Nucleoside Formation Presents A Problem | |
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| Accomplishments and Problems Associated with Polynucleotide Synthesis | |
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| Sorting Out The Enantiomers: The Origin of Chirality | |
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| Translation Must Have Followed RNA and Ribozyme Synthesis | |
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| Early Functions of Lipids | |
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| Glossary | |
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| Appendix | |
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| Answers to Problems | |
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| Index | |