The Origin of Life and Evolutionary Biochemistry

Historical Introduction: A. I. Oparin and the Origin of Life.- Chapters in Honor of “Proiskhozhdenie Zhizni” and A. I, Oparin.- Protein Structure and the Molecular Evolution of Biological Energy Conversion.- Condensation Reactions of Lysine in the Presence of Polyadenylic Acid.- Considerations of the Origin of Spontaneous Mutations.- Pre-Enzymic Emergence of Biochemical Metabolism.- The Methods of Science and the Origins of Life.- Phospholipid Monolayers—As a Prototype of Biological Membranes.- Peptides and Amino Acids in the Primordial Hydrosphere.- Amino Acids and Carbohydrates in Precambrian Rocks.- The Surfaces of Coacervate Drops and the Formation of Colonies.- On Some Problems of Evolution of the Photosynthetic Pigment Apparatus.- Ammonia: Did it have a Role in Chemical Evolution?.- Coacervate Droplets, Proteinoid Microspheres, and the Genetic Apparatus.- Aspects of the Evolution of Some Systems and Processes of Self-Regulation of Plant Metabolism.- Photochemical Formation of Organic Compounds from Mixtures of Simple Gases Simulating the Primitive Atmosphere of the Earth.- The Iron-Sulphur Proteins: Evolution of a Ubiquitous Protein from the Origin of Life to Higher Organisms.- Evolution and Ecology of Phosphorus Metabolism.- Amino Acid Synthesis by Glow Discharge Electrolysis: A Possible Route for Prebiotic Synthesis of Amino Acids.- Prefigured Ordering and Protoselection in the Origin of Life.- Life’s Beginnings — Origin or Evolution?.- Chemical Evolution of Photosynthesis: Models and Hypotheses.- Comparative Study of Plant Organism Glutamine Synthetase.- The Light Dependent Processes in Fungi: A Possible Approach to Some Problems of Photobiological Evolution.- The Role of Inorganic Polyphosphates in Chemical and Biological Evolution.- SucroseSynthetase and its Physiological Role in the Storage Tissues.- Amino and Fatty Acids in Carbonaceous Meteorites.- Isolated Microsystems in Evolution.- The Search for Remnants of Early Evolution in Present-Day Metabolism.- Primitive Control of Cellular Metabolism.- On the Evolution of Macromolecules.- The Coacervate-In-Coacervate Theory of the Origin of Life.- Sedimentary Minerals under Reducing Conditions.- Micelles and Solid Surfaces as Amino Acid Polymerization Propagators.- Possible Ways of Identifying the Abiogenesis of Biochemically Important Compounds.- Evolution of Models for Evolution.- Photosynthesis and Some Problems of Evolution of Biological Systems.- The Oparin Theory and Some Problems of Evolution of Bioenergetic Systems.- An Evolutionary Model for Prebiotic Phosphorylation.- The Role of Shock Waves in the Chemical Evolution of Earth’s Primitive Atmosphere.- Alexander Ivanovitch Oparin and the Origin of Life: A Recollection and Appreciation.- The Origin and Evolution of Enzyme Catalysis.- Oparin and the Origin of Life: Cosmological Considerations.- List of Contributors.