eobiontn.
/iːəʊˈbʌɪɒnt/ A hypothetical chemical structure, supposed to arise during biopoesis, that has certain characteristics of living matter but is not alive in the fullest sense.
ΚΠ
1953 N. W. Pirie in Discovery Aug. 242/2 In early systems, which may be called eobionts, functions may have been performed by other materials, inefficiently no doubt but well enough to get things started. [Note] Eobiont = ‘dawn organism’.
1967 J. D. Bernal Origin of Life iii. 27 He [sc. Oparin] showed that such colloidal bodies could carry on complex chemical reactions and could gradually form what were afterwards referred to as eobionts or pre-vital masses which could carry on a chemical evolution of their own.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1972; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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