Life is believed to have originated first in
Water provides solvent properties, temperature buffering and medium for chemical reactions essential for polymerization of monomers. Oparin-Haldane hot dilute soup concept placed accumulation of organics in oceans where coacervates and microspheres could assemble membranes and maintain gradients. Aqueous environment supports hydrolysis and condensation balance and protects against ultraviolet damage at depth. Terrestrial air or ice lacks such continuity. Evidence of oldest microfossils in marine sediments supports Water as cradle of first anaerobic heterotrophic prokaryotes. This concept integrates genetics, ecology and molecular evidence, frequently tested in NEET, GATE and CSIR-NET, highlighting links between genotype, phenotype and
Ref: Alberts et al., Molecular Biology of the Cell, 6th ed., Chapter 1: Origin of Life.