In your own words explain how you think the first cell came into existence? (2 sentences)

It has been hypothesized that there were four steps that occurred to create the first living cell:

1. The Abiotic (Nonliving) synthesis and accumulation of small organic monomers like amino acids or nucleotides

2. The Joining of monomers into polymers

3. The origin of an effective, low-risk method of replication ( RNA World )

4. The self-assembly of molecules into droplets that had chemical characteristics inside different from the environment outside.

genetic variation can be caused by mutation (which can create entirely new alleles in a population), random mating, random fertilization, and recombination between homologous chromosomes during meiosis (which reshuffles alleles within an organism's offspring).

c. is the correct answer