X.3.1 Systems containing proteins, but not nucleic acids, could have been present at the beginning

This hypothesis is the oldest one.Oparin’s coacervates(X.3.1.1) and Fox’s microspheres (X.3.1.2) are structures that are fundamentally based on proteins.They exhibit certain indications of the properties of living systems, specifically metabolism (especially microspheres) and growth (coacervates).However, in no case do they exhibit the basic property of systems capable of biological evolution, primarily self-reproduction and heredity.

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The classical Darwinian theory of evolution can explain the evolution of adaptive traits only in asexual organisms. The frozen plasticity theory is much more general: It can also explain the origin and evolution of adaptive traits in both asexual and sexual organisms Read more
Draft translation from: Evoluční biologie, 2. vydání (Evolutionary biology, 2nd edition), J. Flegr, Academia Prague 2009. The translation was not done by biologist, therefore any suggestion concerning proper scientific terminology and language usage are highly welcomed. You can send your comments to flegratcesnet [dot] cz. Thank you.