Singularities: Landmarks on the Pathways of Life

by Christian de Duve

Erwin Schrödinger's What is Life? published 60 years ago, influenced much of the development of molecular biology. In this new book Christian De Duve, Nobel Laureate and pioneer of modern cell biology, presents a contemporary response to this classic, providing a sophisticated consideration of the key steps or bottlenecks that constrain the origins and evolution of life. De Duve surveys the entire history of life, including insights into the conditions that may have led to its emergence. He uses as landmarks the many remarkable singularities along the way, such as the single ancestry of all living beings, the universal genetic code, and the monophyletic origin of eukaryotes. The book offers a brief guided tour of biochemistry and phylogeny, from the basic molecular building blocks to the origin of humans. Each successive singularity is introduced in a sequence paralleling the hypothetical development of features and conditions on the primitive earth, explaining how and why each transition to greater complexity occurred.

Genres: Biology, Science

274 pages, Hardcover

First published July 30, 2001

About the author

Christian de Duve (1917-2013) was a Belgian scientist and author. He discovered the cellular components called lysosomes and peroxisomes and researched insulin and glucagon. He was jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1974 with Albert Claude and George E. Palade "for their discoveries concerning the structural and functional organization of the cell".

Born outside of Belgium, de Duve and his family returned to Belgium when the First World War ended, having fled the country for this reason.

He started studying medicine in 1934 at the Catholic University of Leuven and graduated in 1941. Being a gifted student, he started working in the laboratory of professor J.P. Bouckaert who was trying to uncover the mechanism of action of insulin. Believing the answer could be found in biochemistry, de Duve started studying chemistry and graduated in 1946. He was awarded a doctorate in 1945 for his doctoral thesis "Glucose, Insuline et Diabète".

He became a professor at the Catholic University of Leuven in 1951 and later at the Université Catholique de Louvain (UCL). He started working at the Rockefeller Institute (now Rockefeller University) in 1962 dividing his time between Belgium and the United States. He also worked at the Medical Nobel Institute in Sweden and the University of Washington, USA. He founded the International Institute of Cellular and Molecular Pathology (now known as the de Duve Institute) in Brussels in 1974. He became emeritus professor in Belgium in 1985 and in New York in 1988. He wrote several books on the origin of life and biology.

Reviews

[Juxhin Deliu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un testo scientifico che richiede una certa istruzione scientifica per essere approcciato; io stesso ho faticato nonostante il mio percorso rivolto alle scienze applicate e ho dovuto interpellare spesso il mio professore di chimica in quinta liceo (il quale è stato lo stesso a prestarmelo). De Duve, tra le cose, è stato un premio Nobel nel 1971 per le scoperte fondamentali in ambito cellulare e la sua conoscenza in materia biochimica e organica è immensa. Le sue spiegazioni su alcuni modelli scientifici base che si possono riscontrare in ogni organismo sono però affascinanti così come affronta ogni argomento specifico per capitolo e sfata alcuni miti che purtroppo persistono ancora oggi.

[Devero · Rating 5 out of 5]

Per apprezzare a fondo questo volume abbastanza difficile è bene avere una laurea in biologia come la mia, ma non è necessario. Certo il testo non è alla portata di un comune liceale.
Il problema dell'origine della vita è qui analizzato a fondo citando studi scientifici e portando esempi approfonditi e riflessioni, non pura filosofia. De Duve analizza le ipotesi e porta prove e deduzioni sia pro che contro, perché è bene che uno scienziato veda anche le critiche al proprio lavoro.
La sua ipotesi del mondo a RNA come origine della vita è intrigante, ma dubito che riusciremo mai a trovare prove forti sia pro che contro.
Di certo, anche se dovesse esistere, e io non lo credo, un DIO, non ha nulla a che vedere ne con l'origine della vita ne con la sua evoluzione.

[Ross · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this first around 2005, was fascinated, and have delved into various parts of it many times since. I have some fairly basic biochemistry and with a bit of concentration and rereading followed most of the explanations. I'm interested in the origin of life and this book gave me a lot to think about. This is not hard core popular science, as e.g. Nick Lane's The Vital Question, but reads almost like a text book at times with De Duve's own theories and views on various barriers, e.g. bottle necks , to the evolution of life. It's really good on the evolution of RNA and DNA and ATP not to mention other molecules and processes vital for life. This book rewarded my effort and attention. Even though parts of the book are no doubt dated I wanted to record this review because I got so much out of it and still go back to it from time to time.

[George Hawkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a complex book, but it is very clear in evaluating the likely path of evolution in the past.

[Kili · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't have the organic chem chops to appreciate this book. de Duve tackles the origin of life by looking at "singularities": eg, why is ATP so central to all life? He makes an argument of life coming from a combination of extraterrestrial organic materials and chemistry caused with volcanism - he asks questions about what "fossils" exist of protometabolism - and takes a hard look at what an "RNA world" would have been.

I can only skim the text looking for his logic: his intended reader has to know much more about metabolism (and redox equations) than I've ever learned (or remembered). Which is too bad for me - his arguments are deep and appear to be tight. The origin of life, in his vision, was a multi-staged event that has left a few traces in modern life, and that we may eventually uncover through a combination of careful thought, continued analysis of biochemistry, and lab work.

[Jim · Rating 1 out of 5]

Try as I might, reading this left me drowsy. I'll have to find another scientist to tell me about the wonderful singularities.