THE autotrophic hypothesis is one of the hypotheses that seek to explain how the nutrition of the first living beings that emerged in our planet. According to her, the first living beings they were able to produce their own food and were therefore autotrophic.
The main criticism made to this hypothesis is that the first organisms were probably too simple to be able to produce the organic matter necessary for their survival. However, studies with bacteria chemosynthetics Current evidence suggests that these beings could indeed be autotrophic.
Read too: What is autotrophic and heterotrophic?
The autotrophic hypothesis
The autotrophic hypothesis considers that the first living beings existing on our planet were capable of get your own food through different chemical processes. To carry out this process, they were able to withdraw energy of the environment, which, at that time, was unfavorable to the development of life.
When we talk about autotrophic organisms, we are often reminded of plants, organisms capable of carrying out the
photosynthesis. However, the first living beings did not get their food in this way, being, probably, chemosynthetic beings. This means that they used energy from the oxidation of inorganic compounds to be able to produce their organic matter based on Water and carbon dioxide.
Evidence supporting the autotrophic hypothesis
Currently the autotrophic hypothesis is supported by recent findings ofbacteria chemosynthetics that inhabit extreme regions of the planet, with high temperatures and high salinity, for example. These extreme environments, in which these current bacteria live, may have characteristics similar to those exhibited by primitive earth, when life emerged, thus supporting the idea that the first living beings could be chemosynthesizers.
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Criticism of the autotrophic hypothesis'
The autotrophic hypothesis is criticized by authors who defend the heterotrophic hypothesis, which says that the first living beings needed to remove their food from the environment in which they lived. According to these authors, the first living beings that appeared on Earth they did not have the necessary apparatus to produce their own food and therefore were not autotrophic organisms.
Read more: Heterotrophic Hypothesis – states that the first living beings did not produce their own food.
Origin of life
It is worth noting that the autotrophic hypothesis tries to explain only how the first living beings were in terms of their way of obtaining food. The way life appeared on the planet is explained by other hypotheses, such as:
- Panspermia Hypothesis: life would have started off the planet, and particles from it would have arrived here through space, by meteorites, for example.
- creationism: living beings were created by God, as reported in Bible.
- Oparin and Haldane Hypothesis: it is currently the most accepted hypothesis by the scientific community. According to her, the action of electrical discharges and ultraviolet radiation on the atmosphere primitive was responsible for forming amino acids, which, by the action of rain, were taken to the terrestrial surface, where primitive oceans were formed. In these oceans, they began to combine, forming a kind of protein primitive, which gave rise to coacervados. Over time, these coacervates became more complex and stable, until the first forms of life appeared.
Want to know more about this intriguing question? Read our text: Origin of life.
By Vanessa Sardinha dos Santos
Biology teacher
Would you like to reference this text in a school or academic work? Look:
SANTOS, Vanessa Sardinha dos. "Autotrophic Hypothesis"; Brazil School. Available in: https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/biologia/hipotese-autotrofica.htm. Accessed on June 27, 2021.
