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NASA TM

X 1439

A REVIEW OF SOME EXPERIMENTS ON THE SYNTHESIS OF JEEWANU

By Linda D. Caren and Cyr il Ponnamperuma

Ames Research Center

Moffett Field, Calif.

N A T I O N A L A E R O N A U T I C S A N D S P A C E A D M I N IS T R A T IO N

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A RFVIEW

OF

SOME

MpERi2vE TS

ON

THE SYNTHESI S OF JEEWAW

By

Li nda

D

Caren and Cyr i l Ponnamperuma

Ames Research Center

SUMMARY

Bahadur

has

reported synthesi zi ng l i vi ng gl obul es cal l ed ' ' j eewanu.

These experi ments, and at tempts t o repeat them are cri t i cal l y revi ewed.

i s concl uded that i nsuf f i ci ent evi dence has been advanced to prove that

j eewanu are al i ve.

I t

Bahadur

has

reported the synthesi s of i norgani c and organi c l i vi ng

gl obul es whi ch he has cal l ed j eewanu, the Sanskri t word f or part i cl es of

l i fe.

have been t he subj ect

of many publ i cat i ons (ref s. 1 -7 ) .

of exobi ol ogy i s t o ret race the path of chemcal evol ut i on i n the l aboratory,

i t i s of i nterest t o examne these experi ments w th care. The purpose

of

thi s paper i s t o revi ewcri t i cal l y some experi ments i n whi ch j eewanu are

synthesi zed.

These experi ments and the phi l osophy under l yi ng thei r i nterpretat i on

Si nce one obj ecti ve

Bahadur bel i eves that l i f e i s

an

i nherent property of matter whi ch can

mani f est i t sel f when condi t i ons are appropri atel y arranged (ref s.

1 2,

and

7).

He has def i ned l i vi ng uni t s as those whi ch grow mul t i pl y, and are meta-

bol i cal l y act i ve i n a systemat i c, harmoni ous, and synchroni zed manner

(refs. 1, 2,

and

5).

three

cri ter i a are an adequate def i ni t i on

of

l i f e, but whether the j eewanu

sat i smthese cri teri a.

The quest i on consi dered herei n i s not whether these

Thr ee ki nds of j eewanu were prepared ( refs.

2-7).

One group of j eewanu

was i norgani c (ref . 5), whereas t he other t wo were organi c (refs. 3 and 4).

Of

the organi c j eewanu, one group

was

produced photochemcal l y (ref . 3)

whereas the other ( ref . 4) was prepared from thermal pol ymers of amno aci ds

(protei noi d) as descri bed by

Fox

(ref.

8).

I NORGANI C JEEWANU

The synthesi s of j eewanu composed of 88 percent ash,

42

percent carbon,

and 0 25 percent ni t rogen has been reported ( ref s.

3

and 7)

present , 61.14 percent was cuprous oxi de.

aci ds were present.

and have metabol i c act i vi ty, no convi nci ng evi dence was presented (refs. 5

and 7).

Of the copper

No

protei n, pept i des, or amno

Al though i t was stated that these j eewanu grow mul t i pl y,

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I t may be noted that other i norgani c st ructures have been produced and

descri bed as l i vi ng by Kal i nenko ( ref s. 9 and l o).

tei n, amno aci ds, puri ne

or

pyri mdi ne bases, and certai n enzyme acti vi t i es.

Conf i rmatory reports by other workers are l acki ng.

These structures l ack pro-

Present l y known sci ent i f i c pri nci pl es of bi ol ogy and bi ochemst ry cannot

account f or l i vi ng i norgani c uni ts. The postul ated exi stence of t hese l i vi ng

uni ts has not been proved.

PHOTOCHENI CALLY PREPARED JEEWANU

It has been reported that pept i des are formed when aqueous sol ut i ons of

amno aci ds are exposed to l i ght i n the presence or absence of i norgani c cata-

l ysts (ref s.

1

and

11).

tyrosi ne

or

gl yci ne, can be converted photochemcal l y i nto other amno aci ds

(refs. 1 and 11).

reported that photosynthesi s of amno aci ds can occur i n steri l i zed aqueous

mxtures of si mpl e carbon compounds ( such as paraformal dehyde or ci tr i c aci d),

a ni t rogen source ( such as ammoni umsal ts, ni t rates, or mol ecul ar ni trogen),

and one or more ( somet i mes col l oi dal ) metal l i c catal ysts, such as i ron

or

mol ybdenum (ref s. 1 and z- 16) .

ducts as amno aci ds i n these experi ments was not concl usi ve because, i n most

experi ments, one-di mensi onal paper chromatography was the onl y anal yti cal

method used. I n addi t i on, the i mpl i ed f i xat i on of mol ecul ar ni t rogen under

these condi t i ons ( ref s.

13- 15) i s

unl i kel y f roma chemcal standpoi nt ( ref .

17).

Under the same condi t i ons, some amno aci ds, such as

Pert i , Bahadur, Santamari a, Br i ggs, and Agrawal have

The i dent i f i cat i on of the synthesi zed pro-

It

has been f urther reported that j eewanu were f ormed when these steri l e

sol ut i ons were exposed to

500

to

1000

hours i rr adi at i on w th vi si bl e l i ght

(ref . 3). Duri ng exposure, the j eewanu reportedl y i ncreased i n si ze ( f rom

0.25 0.3 p to 1-1.5 p i n di ameter) and i n number 6- t o 65- f o1d) .

PROTEI NOI D

JEEWANU

Protei noi d j eewanu have al so been prepaced. The protei noi d consi st s of

amno aci ds pol ymeri zed by heat under anhydrous condi t i ons (ref .

8).

I t had

been shown earl i er by Fox (ref .

8)

that when protei noi d i s part i al l y di s-

sol ved i n hot water, t he mxture boi l ed f or

10

seconds, and the hot cl ear

supernatant decanted and al l owed to cool , mcrospheres w th an average

di ameter of a f ew mcrons

or

l ess were f ormed.

Protei noi d j eewanu were prepared by seedi ng a protei noi d- contai ni ng

nutr i ent medi umw th protei noi d mcrospheres

(ref. 4).

descri be a t ypi cal protei noi d j eewanu experi ment si nce the methods vari ed con-

si derabl y f romone experi ment t o the next . I n most experi ments, ascorbi c

aci d,

ammoni ummol ybdat e or mol ybdi c aci d, and a mneral sol ut i on were

i ncl uded i n the nutri ent medi um These mxtures were then exposed to sunl i ght

as

an energy source f or ei ght hours a day and shaken dai l y. Mol ybdenum

I t i s di f f i cul t t o

2

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was i ncl uded to serve as a photosensi t i zer, that i s, to capture some of the

energy of t he sunl i ght and l ater reemt

i t

w thi n the sol ut i on.

reported that the mcrospheres

o r

j eewanu pl aced i n thi s medi umand i rradi ated

w t h vi si bl e l i ght i ncreased i n number and si ze w thi n two weeks.

col

f romref erence 4 i s shown i n f i gure

1

Dependi ng on t he experi mental con-

di t i ons, Bahadur reported an i ncrease i n the number of j eewanu rangi ng f rom

2- t o 28- f ol d w thi n two weeks (ref . 4).

I t

has been

One proto-

I n eval uati ng the organi c j eewanu, one must consi der whether Bahadur' s

three cri teri a of growth, mul t i pl i cat i on, and metabol i c acti vi ty have been

met. The evi dence presented on these three poi nts i s on the whol e

unconvi nci ng.

Grawth, def i ned as an i ncrease i n mass, was not r i gorousl y demonst rated,

but was i nf erred f roman apparent i ncrease i n the average di ameter of the

j eewanu measured mcroscopi cal l y.

protei noi d j eewanu experi ment, no i ncrease i n the si ze of the j eewanu was

observed (ref .

18).

an i ncrease i n the dry wei ght

or

ni trogen content

of

the gl obul es.

determnat i ons have not been reported.

When Young and McCaw

  ref . 18)

repeated the

Unequi vocal proof of growth woul d be the demonst rati on of

Such

Mul t i pl i cat i on, that i s, an i ncrease i n t he number of j eewanu, was

observed fol l ow ng dai l y shaki ng and i rradi at i on f or a

f ew

days, weeks,

or

months.

Young and McCaw (ref . 18) observed an i ncrease i n the number of uni t s

onl y when the mxtures were shaken as di rected ( ref . 4); no i ncrease i n number

was observed when the mxtures were not shaken (ref.

18) I t

was concl uded

that vi gorous shaki ng broke the mcrospheres i nto smal l er part i cl es (ref .

19)

and accounted f or thei r i ncreased number. I n thi s connect i on, Fox has

reported that protei noi d mcrospheres can f ormbuds whi ch are detachabl e by

agi tat i on

ref .

20).

occurred i n the j eewanu experi ments i s an open quest i on.

Whether

or

not thi s mode

of

mul t i pl i cat i on

a l s o

There i s no convi nci ng evi dence presented that i ndi cates protei noi d

j eewanu possess metabol i c acti vi ty.

The i mpl i ed basi s of t he protei noi d j eewanu experi ments (ref s.

4

and 7)

The photochemcalas Bahadur' s earl i er photochemcal work (ref s.

2

and 3).

synthesi s and i nterconversi on of amno aci ds as

wel l

as t he photochemcal

f i xat i on

of

mol ecul ar ni t rogen had been reported to occur under condi t i ons

si ml ar t o those used f or t he growth of j eewanu (ref s.

2- 4,

7,

14,

and

l 5),

but whether these phenomena di d occur i n the j eewanu experi ments i s not cl ear.

No

concrete evi dence i s of f ered on thi s cri t i cal poi nt. I f t hese processes

were occurri ng i n the presence of t he protei noi d j eewanu, i t woul d provi de a

mechani sm f or an i ncrease i n the mass of the systemas a whol e.

I n addi t i on t o thi s unresol ved basi c poi nt ,

there are other di f f i cul t i es

i n i nterpreti ng the j eewanu experi ments. One i s the conf usi ng manner i n

whi ch the experi mental procedures were presented.

For

i nstance, i t i s not

apparent why the substances i n the nutri ent medi um (f i g. 1) were i ncl uded

or

why they vari ed i n rel ati ve amounts f romone experi ment t o the next ; a

systemat i c

study of t hese vari at i ons and an assay of thei r resul t s were not

done.

3

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The s t e r i l i t y of t h e mix tu re s i s

0 m l -

3

percent aqueous solution

ascorbic acid

10 ml

-

3 percent aqueous solution ammonium mdybdate

10 ml -mineral solution (2 mg each of NaCI,

K2S04 ,MgS04 ,

another po in t i n quest ion . It i s

4 0 m l -

distilled water

but although th e nu tr ie nt medium

was

KH2P04, Co(C2H302) , and 02 mgZ nS 04)

s t a t e d t h a t t h e mixtures w e r e s t e r i l e ,

s t e r i l i z e d b y a u to c la v in g , t h e seed

microspheres apparently were not

( f i g .

1).

utrient

5ml 0

medium

79

2 I proteinold

eedm l +microspheres0 2 9

2.2 1

A b a s i c d e fe c t i n t h e se e x pe r i-

d e sc r ip t io n of many of the substances

used. To c i t e one or two examples,

for i hr, microspheres form oxide sol was not desc rib ed i n enough

d e t a i l

t o

a l low another person t o p re -

pare

i t

pened t o the ascorb ic ac id dur ing the

au to cl av ing pro ces s. Thi s compound i s

ver y he at -l ab il e, and can be reduced

and th ir d carbon a toms, pa r t ic ul ar ly

metals ( r e f .

2 1 ) .

The chemically

uncharacter ized c lea r yel low super-

n a t a n t ( f i g . 1 used as t h e n u t r i e n t

medium may have contained resulting

small carbon skeletons which could

have par t ic i pa ted i n the photochemical

syn thes is of amino acids. Al l i n a l l ,

(2 ports aspartic acid: proteinoid

2 ports glutamic acid

I part equimdor mixture

of other natural amino acids)

Heated to the boiling ments

was

t h e inadequate chemical

point for I min

Heated to the boiling point

for I min

to rOOm temperature t he p r e p r a t on of th e ''molybdenum

r----

Cooled to room temperature

for 2 hr

One a l s o wonders what hap-

Mixture homogenized by

shaking

Centrifuged 3 times (2500 pm,

20min);each time-

I ml

added to

4 of

the

Clear yellow Supernatant Sediment

retained and filtered discorded

tubes of nutrient medium

and cleaved e a s i l y between th e second

Dvided into elght 5-

ml

aliquots

and autoclaved at 201b far

15

min i n the p resence o f small amounts of

Irradiated with sunlight 8 r/doy; shaken

doily prior to the withdrawal of an

aliquot for microscopc counting

Figure 1. One of

B d a d W ' s

procedures f o r

prepar ing proteinoid jeewanu (ref.

4)

.

t h e l ar ge number of'ch em ical ly undefined substances i n th e pr ote in oid jeewanu

experiments preclude

a

meaningful in terpreta t ion.

CONCLUSI ONS

Inorganic and organic globules called jeewanu have been synthesized.

Propert ies a t t r ib ut ed t o th e jeewanu include growth, m ult i p l ic at io n, and meta-

b o l i c a c t i v i t y .

f i c i e n t n t ha t ob ject ive, de fi ni ti ve experiments have not been done. A t

present , the nature and prop ert i es of th e jeewanu remain t o be c l ar if ie d .

The evidence advanced t o support t he se conclusions i s i n su f -

Ames

Research Center

Natio nal Aeronautics and Space Adm inistr ation

Moffet t Fie ld , C a l i f . ,

94035, Mar. 28, 1967

189 53

- 01- 18- 00

21

4

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REFERENCES

1. Pert i , 0. N: The Ori gi n of Li f e. Agra Uni v. J . Res., Pt. 11, v o l .

12,

May 1963, pp.

1-48.

2. Bahadur, Kr i shna; and Ranganayaki ,

S.:

Synthesi s of J eewanu, the Uni ts

Capabl e

of

Growth, Mul t i pl i cat i on and Metabol i c Acti vi ty.

I.

Pr e-

parat i on

of

Uni ts Capabl e

of

Growth and D vi si on and Havi ng Metabol i c

Acti vi ty. Zentr. Bakteri ol . Parasi tenk. , Abt. 11, vol .

117,

1964,

PP. 367-5740

3. Bahadur, K ; Verma, H

C ;

Sri vastva, R. B. ; Agrawal , K. M L.;

Pandey, R

S.;

Saxena, I.; Mal vi ya, A.

N ;

Kumar, Vi nod; Pert i , 0. N;

and

Pathak, H D: Synthesi s

of

J eewanu, the Uni t s Capabl e

of

Growth,

Mul t i pl i cat i on and Metabol i c Acti vi ty. 11. Photochemcal Preparat i on

of Grow ng and Mul t i pl yi ng Uni ts w th Metabol i c Acti vi t i es.

Bakteri ol . Parasi tenk. , Abt. 11, vol . 117,

1964,

pp.

573- 584.

Zentr.

4.

Bahadur, Kri shna: Synthesi s

of

J eewanu, the Uni t s Capabl e

of

Growth,

Mul t i pl i cat i on and Metabol i c Acti vi ty. 111. Preparat i on of M cro-

spheres Capabl e of

Growth

and D vi si on by Buddi ng and Havi ng Metabol i c

Acti vi ty w th Pept i des Prepared Thermal l y. Zentr. Bakteri ol .

Parasi tenk. , Abt. 11, vol . 117,

1964,

pp.

585-602.

5 Bahadur, Kr i shna:

Conversi on of Li f el ess Matter i nto the Li vi ng System

Zentr. Bakteri ol . Parasi tenk. , Abt. 11, vol . 118, 1964, pp. 671-694.

6. Bahadur, Kr i sbna:

About a Few Experi ments on Preparati on of J eewanu

from Thermal Pept i des.

Agra Uni v.

J .

Res. , Pt. I , vol .

14,

J an. 1965,

pp. 41-48.

7

Bahadur, Kr i shna: Synthesi s

of

J eewanu the Protocel l . RamNarai n La1

Beni Prasad, Al l ahabad, I ndi a, 1966.

8. Fox, Si dney

W:

Si mul ated Natural Experi ments i n Spontaneous

Organi zat i on of Morphol ogi cal Uni ts f romProtei noi d. The Ori gi ns

of

Prebi ol ogi cal Systems and of Thei r Mol ecul ar Matri ces. Si dney W Fox,

ed., Academc Press, New York, 1965, pp 361-373.

9. Kal i nenko, V 0. : Bi o- l i ke St ructure (Bi opodobnyye struktury). Nauka i

zhi zn' , no. 8, 1963, pp. 67- 70.

10.

Kal i nenko, V.

0. :

Experi mental Formati on of Bi o- l i ke St ructures

(Eksperi mental ' noye formrovani ye bi opodobnykh st ruktur) .

bi ol ogi ya, vol . 33, no.

2,

1964,

pp 356- 363.

M kro-

11. Pathak, H D: Study of Act i on of Li ght on Amno Aci ds i n Presence

or

Absence

of

Energy Materi al s Under Asept i c Condi t i on. Ph. D

D ssertat i on, Agra Uni v. , Nai ni Tal , I ndi a, 1962.

5

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12. Bahadur, K.: Photosynthesi s of Amno Aci ds f romParaformal dehyde and

Potassi umN trate.

Nature, vol .

173, 1954,

p.

1141.

13. Bahadur, K.; Ranganayaki , S ; and Santamari a, L.: Photosynthesi s

of

Amno Aci ds f romParaf ormal dehyde I nvol vi ng the Fi xat i on of Ni t rogen

i n the Presence of Col l oi dal Mol ybdenumOxi de as Catal yst. Nature,

v~i .

182, 1958,

p. 1668.

14.

Santamari a, L.;

and

Fl ei schmann, L.: Photochemcal Synthesi s

of

Amno

Aci ds f romParaformal dehyde Catal ysed by I norgani c Agents.

Experi ent i a, vol . 22,

1966,

pp. 430-431.

15. Bri ggs, M H: Experi ments on the Ori gi n of Cel l s. Spacef l i ght , vol . 7,

1965,

pp.

129-131.

16. Agarwal , K. M L: Photosynthesi s

of Amno Aci ds and Pept i des

I nvol vi ng

Photochemcal Fi xat i on of N trogen i n Ster i l i zed Aqueous M xtures

Con-

tai ni ng Paraf ormal dehyde and I norgani c Catal ysts. Agr. Bi ol . Chem,

~0 1 -9, 1965, pp* 769-7730

17.

J ol l y,

W L.:

The I norgani c Chemstry

of

N trogen.

W

A.

Benj amn,

I nc. , N Y. , 1964, pp.

12- 13.

18.

Fox,

S

W:

Second Annual Report , I nst i tute for Space Bi osci ences,

Fl ori da State Uni versi ty, Tal l ahassee, Fl or i da, pp. 26-27.

19. Young,

R.

S: Morphol ogy and Chemst ry of M crospheres fromProtei noi d.

The Ori gi ns of Prebi ol ogi cal Systems and of Thei r Mol ecul ar Matri ces.

Si dney

W

Fox, ed., Academc Press, New York,

1965,

pp. 347- 357.

20.

Fox, S W; McCaul ey, R. J . ; and Wood, A: A Model of Pr i mt i ve

Heterotrophi c Prol i f erat i on.

Comp. Bi ochem Physi ol . , vol .

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21. Whi te,

A;

Handl er,

P.;

Smt h, E.

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1959,

p. 1025.

6

NASA-Langley 1967

A-2578