History of life

chapter 2

Dr Sana Javaid Awan

The Origin and Evolutionary History of Life on
Earth
• Chemical conditions of the early Earth
• A model for the first cells
• First life
• Life changes the planet: oxygenating Earth’s
oceans and atmosphere
• Eukaryotic cells descended from prokaryotic
cells
• History of life on Earth
Oxygenating Earth’s oceans and atmosphere

• cyanobacteria were likely the first

photosynthetic organisms to use
H2O as a hydrogen donor, releasing
O2 into the environment
– stromatolites from as old as 3.5 bya
containing what appear to be fossil
cyanobacteria
– many stromatolites with what appear
to by fossil cyanobacteria date to about
2.5 bya
 Oxygenating Earth’s oceans and atmosphere

• banded iron formations from

about 2.5 bya indicate the
massive release of O2 into the
oceans
Oxygenating Earth’s oceans and atmosphere
• by 2 bya, O2 levels began to build up in the atmosphere
• the presence of O2 had a profound impact on life on Earth
– O2 is toxic to organisms that don’t have protective mechanisms;
many died as O2 levels built up
• creates an oxidizing atmosphere, which can destroy precious reduced
organic molecules
• some anaerobic organisms survive (even today) only in environments
with little to no oxygen
• some evolved adaptations to the presence of oxygen
• some organisms developed means to use O2 in respiration to extract
more energy from foods (aerobic respiration)
 Oxygenating Earth’s oceans and atmosphere

• the presence of O2 had a

profound impact on life on
Earth
– the formation of the ozone
layer (O3) soon after
oxygenation of the atmosphere
provided protection from UV
radiation and allowed life to
expand to regions at and near
the Earth’s surface
The Origin and Evolutionary History of Life on
Earth
• Chemical conditions of the early Earth
• A model for the first cells
• First life
• Life changes the planet: oxygenating Earth’s
oceans and atmosphere
• Eukaryotic cells descended from prokaryotic
cells
• History of life on Earth
Eukaryotic cells descended from prokaryotic
cells
• eukaryotes first appear in
the fossil record about 2
bya, long after prokaryotic
cells
• DNA sequencing provides
evidence of common
ancestry of all life on Earth,
with eukaryotes splitting
from Archaea about 2 bya
• recall the endosymbiotic
theory – model for how at
least some of the
eukaryotic cell organelles
came to exist