BookRoberto Ligrone.
Summary: The book is a detailed account of major biological events that contributed to create the present world and our species, with emphasis on cause-effect interrelationships and environmental impact. Its main goal is to guide the reader toward an understanding of the continuity of life across diversity, and of its large-scale interactions with the planet. Combining scientific soundness with a constant effort for clarity, the book begins with a cloud of dust in a corner of the Galaxy and, covering an immense lapse of time, terminates with an organism that ponders about the texture of the Universe. Comprehensive, updated references added to each chapter will help the reader wishing to expand any of the topics. A glossary explains less common technical terms.
Contents:
Intro; Preface; Contents; Abbreviations;
Chapter 1: Introduction; References;
Chapter 2: The Origins; 2.1 Introduction; 2.2 Birth of the Solar System; 2.3 The Earth; 2.4 The Activation of Tectonics; 2.5 Tectonic Processes Are Essential to Life; 2.5.1 Tectonics Drives a Powerful Global Thermostat; 2.5.2 Tectonics Recycles Bioelements; 2.6 Birth of the Atmosphere-Ocean-Continental Crust System; References;
Chapter 3: The Birth of Life; 3.1 Introduction; 3.2 Seafloor Hydrothermal Vents as Settings for the Emergence of Life; 3.3 A Primordial Role for RNA?; 3.4 The Genetic Code 3.5 A RNA-Protein World3.6 Biological Membranes; 3.7 From Geochemistry to Biochemistry: The Emergence of an Autonomous Metabolism; 3.8 DNA Replaced RNA as the Repository of Biological Information; 3.9 The Bacterial-Archaeal Divide: Ancestral or Derived?; 3.10 Concluding Remarks; References;
Chapter 4: Moving to the Light: The Evolution of Photosynthesis; 4.1 Introduction; 4.2 Light, Pigments and Photosystems; 4.3 Accessory Pigments; 4.4 The Photochemical Pathway in Anoxygenic Bacteria; 4.5 Evolutionary Interrelationships of Type-1 and Type-2 Photosystems; 4.6 Oxygenic Photosynthesis 4.7 Pathways of Carbon Photosynthetic FixationReferences;
Chapter 5: The Great Oxygenation Event; 5.1 Introduction; 5.2 Planetary Oxygen Balance; 5.3 Methane Was Probably as a Key Driver of Planetary Oxygenation; 5.4 The GOE Was Associated with a Long Phase of Climatic Instability; 5.5 After the GOE, the Earth Stabilized in a Low-Oxygen State for over 1 Billion Years; 5.6 The Earth Entered a High-Oxygen Phase About 800 Million Years Ago; 5.7 The Impact of Oxygen on Biological Evolution; References;
Chapter 6: Eukaryotes; 6.1 Introduction 6.2 Rise and Fall of the Archaezoan Model of Eukaryogenesis6.3 Post-archaezoan Models; 6.4 The Neomuran Model; 6.5 The Origin of the Nucleus; 6.6 Was the Host a Primitive Eukaryote or a Complex Archaeon?; 6.7 The Mitochondria; 6.7.1 Facts About Mitochondria; 6.8 The Last Eukaryote Common Ancestor (LECA) Possessed a Full Set of Fundamental Eukaryotic Traits; 6.9 Eukaryote Phylogeny and Systematics; 6.10 Dating Eukaryote Appearance and Diversification; 6.11 Concluding Remarks; References;
Chapter 7: Sexual Reproduction; 7.1 Introduction; 7.2 Origin of Meiotic Sex 7.3 The Case of Parthenogenetic Rotifers7.4 Sexual Reproduction Sets Strong Species Boundaries in Eukaryotes; 7.5 Species Boundary in Prokaryotes Is Conventional; 7.6 Gamete Differentiation and Genders; References;
Chapter 8: Multicellularity; 8.1 Introduction; 8.2 Cellular Specialization and Levels of Organization in Multicellular Organisms; 8.3 Stem Cells and Germ Line; 8.4 Concluding Remarks; References;
Chapter 9: The Chloroplast and Photosynthetic Eukaryotes; 9.1 Introduction; 9.2 Birth of the Primary Chloroplast; 9.3 The Plants (Archaeplastida); 9.4 Secondary Chloroplasts