Reversible suspension of metabolism and the origin of life

Abstract

This paper is concerned to show that the capacity to tolerate a total suspension of metabolism (cryptobiosis) is a primitive characteristic of protoplasm. It is a characteristic that makes it possible to visualize a much wider range of environmental conditions for the possible origin of the first living systems. The characteristics of the cryptobiotic state are first noted, certain special features of cryptobiosis revealed by experiments on complex multicellular animals are then described, and finally the relevance of all this to theories about the origin of life are briefly noted.