On the origin of metabolic pathways

Abstract

The heterotrophic theory of the origin of life is the only proposal available with experimental support. This comes freom the ease of prebiotic synthesis under strongly reducing conditions. The prebiotic synthesis of organic compounds by reduction of CO2 to monomers used by the first organisms would also be considered an heterotrophic origin. Autotrophy means that the first organisms biosynthesized their cell constituents as well as assembling them. Prebiotic synthetic pathways are all different freom the biosynthetic pathways of the last common ancestor (LCA). The steps leading to the origin of the metabolic pathways are closer to prebiotic chemistry than to those in the LCA. There may have been different biosynthetic routes between the prebiotic and the LCAs that played an early role in metabolism but have disappeared freom extant organisms. The semienzymatic theory of the origin of metabolism proposed here is similar to the Horowitz hypothesis but includes the use of compounds leaking freom preexisting pathways as well as prebiotic compounds freom the environment.