Oxygen and the Evolution of Life
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Beschreibung
This book describes the interlaced histories of life and oxygen. It opens with the generation of the element in ancient stars, and its distribution to newly formed planets like the Earth. But free O2 was not available on the early Earth, so the first life forms had to be anaerobic. Life introduced free O2 into the environment through the evolution of photosynthesis. This must have been a disaster for many anaerobes, but others found ways to deal with toxic reactive oxygen species. Some even developed a much more efficient oxygen-based metabolism.
The authors vividly describe how the introduction of O2 into the atmosphere and oceans changed world chemistry, and allowed the burst of evolution that created today’s biota. They also discuss the interplay of O2 and CO2, with consequences such as worldwide glaciations and global warming. On the physiological level, they present an overview of oxidative metabolism and O2 transport in animals and the importance of O2 in human life and medicine, emphasizing that while oxygen is essential, it is also related to aging and many disease states.
This book describes the interlaced histories of life and oxygen. It opens with the generation of oxygen in ancient stars and its distribution to newly formed planets like the Earth. Free O2 was not available on the early Earth, so the first life forms had to be anaerobic. Life introduced free O2 into the environment through the evolution of photosynthesis, which must have been a disaster for many anaerobes. Others found ways to deal with the toxic reactive oxygen species and even developed a much more efficient oxygen-based metabolism. The authors vividly describe how the introduction of O2 allowed the burst of evolution that created today’s biota. They also discuss the interplay of O2 and CO2, with consequences such as worldwide glaciations and global warming. On the physiological level, they present an overview of oxidative metabolism and O2 transport, and the importance of O2 in human life and medicine, emphasizing that while oxygen is essential, it is also related to aging and many disease states.
Written in an easily understandable way, this text makes a very interesting and entertaining read The authors, both biophysicists, depict how changes in the earth's atmosphere have been interrelated with the origin of life and delineate the important implications for human health and humanity's future This book evolved from the authors long-standing interests in proteins and oxygen transport, which lead to the much deeper question as to how oxygen utilization were related to living organisms Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras
Autor*in
Heinz Decker
Themen in »Oxygen and the Evolution of Life«
Aerobic metabolism Formation of Earth Global warming Greenhouse effect Oxygen transport Oxygenation Reactive Oxygen species