The difficult case of an RNA-only origin of life

Emerging topics in life sciences - Tập 3 Số 5 - Trang 469-475 - 2019
Kristian Le Vay1, Hannes Mutschler1
1Max-Planck Institute of Biochemistry, Am Klopferspitz 18, 82152 Martinsried, Germany

Tóm tắt

The RNA world hypothesis is probably the most extensively studied model for the emergence of life on Earth. Despite a large body of evidence supporting the idea that RNA is capable of kick-starting autocatalytic self-replication and thus initiating the emergence of life, seemingly insurmountable weaknesses in the theory have also been highlighted. These problems could be overcome by novel experimental approaches, including out-of-equilibrium environments, and the exploration of an early co-evolution of RNA and other key biomolecules such as peptides and DNA, which might be necessary to mitigate the shortcomings of RNA-only systems.

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