Contribution to a symbiogenic approach in astrobiology

Francisco Carrapiço; Luísa Pereira; Telma Rodrigues

doi:10.1117/12.734008

1 October 2007 Contribution to a symbiogenic approach in astrobiology

Francisco Carrapiço, Luísa Pereira, Telma Rodrigues

Proceedings Volume 6694, Instruments, Methods, and Missions for Astrobiology X; 669406 (2007) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.734008
Event: Optical Engineering + Applications, 2007, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

This article intends to continue our previous work on the symbiogenic approach to chemical and biological evolution. We believe that cooperative and synergistic processes were responsible, using terrestrial and extraterrestrial materials, for the creation of a large prebiotic pool, closely related to geochemical contexts, and intense interactions within. Probably, a series of synergistic and cooperative effects produced a wide source of creativity, and functional advantages that pushed the emergence of complex and functionally integrated biological systems, through the evolution of self-organization and auto-catalysis. It was only after this biochemical evolution of structures, which produced the informational capabilities necessary for self-replication, that the Darwinian mechanisms could arise. This way of perceiving the emergence of life follows the proposals regarding life's initial evolution in which the progenote proposed consisted in an open community of very diverse primitive cellular entities with intense symbiotic associations, antagonisms, and competition, and with a rapid and reticulate pattern of evolution. We believe this symbiogenic approach should be considered in the understanding of chemical and biological evolution. This discussion contributes to the development of astrobiological knowledge, since it gives other perspectives about life's appearance and development on Earth and elsewhere.

Citation Download Citation

Francisco Carrapiço, Luísa Pereira, and Telma Rodrigues "Contribution to a symbiogenic approach in astrobiology", Proc. SPIE 6694, Instruments, Methods, and Missions for Astrobiology X, 669406 (1 October 2007); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.734008

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