paul@phs.UUCP (02/23/84)
<bug killer> At least two people have hopped on the "oil slick" point in Woese's presentation (parts of which were abstracted by me). As I have pointed out to one of them, I do not know what he meant by "oil slicks" nor how they arose. However, let it be known that not all oil comes from the ground and makes automobiles run more smoothly: "Fatty acid esters of the alcohol gylcerol are called acylglycerols or glycerides... When all three hydroxyl groups of glycerol are esterified with fatty acids, the structure is called a triacylglycerol... Triacylglycerols are the most abundant family of lipids... Triacylglycerols that are solid at room temperature are often referred to as 'fats' and those which are liquid as 'oils'." (Lehninger, A.L. 1975. Biochemistry, Second Edition. Worth Publishers, Inc., N.Y., p. 284) Also, J. Oro (Dept of Biophysical Sciences and Chemistry, University of Houston), in "The Origins of Life and Evolution" (ref. given in a previous communication), pp 47-63, claims that his group has demonstrated the abiotic synthesis of both lipid precursors (i.e., fatty acids and glycerol) from carbon monoxide and formaldehyde (apparently) and acylglycerols (including triacylglycerols). Now, I don't know what to make of his work, since I haven't read the original papers, and maybe wouldn't know what to make of it after reading the papers, but I do know that it's foolish to ridicule that which one does not understand. ------------------------------- Paul Dolber @ Duke U Med Ctr (...!duke!phs!paul)