hydrolysis

HURDLE NUMBER 8. THE HYDROLYSIS HURDLE.

If amino acids or nucleotides, or proteins or RNA could form in the primeval soup, they would soon be destroyed. They would tend to decompose by a process known as hydrolysis, ie:- decomposition by water. Here are some quotes from authoritative sources that clarify this issue:-

Here is a quote from the book Evolution Now: A Century After Darwin, edited by John Maynard Smith (Professor Emeritus at The University of Sussex), published by Nature in association with The MacMillan Press Ltd., 1982, pages 10 to 27:- Article:- The Origin of Genetic Information by Manfred Eigen (Director of The Max Planck Institute for Physical Chemistry in Gottingen) Page 13:-

“Hydrolysis, the cleavage by a water molecule that is the ultimate fate of polymers in water solution.”

The next quote is from the book The Origins of Life On The Earth by Stanley L. Miller (of The University of California, San Diego) and Leslie Orgel (of The Salk Institute, California), published by Prentice Hall, 1974, page 135:-

“The most important macromolecules in living systems are all subject to hydrolysis in aqueous solution.”

The next quote is from the book Origins: A Skeptics Guide To The Creation of Life on Earth – by Robert Shapiro (Professor of Chemistry at New York University, published by Heinemann, 1986, pages 173 to 174:-

“Water - - - - attacks large biological molecules. It pries nucleotides apart from each other.”

The next quote is from the book How Life Began by L.R. Croft, Lecturer in Biological Sciences at The University of Salford, published by Evangelical Press, 1988, page 50:-

“Nucleotides - - - are unstable in aqueous solution. When dissolved in water they tend to break down into their components. Thus even if they were formed in the primeval soup, they would not have remained intact for very long.”