The general notion of an “RNA world” is that, in the early development of life on the Earth,
genetic continuity was assured by the replication of RNA, and RNA molecules were the chief …

The complexity of even the simplest known life forms makes efforts to synthesize living cells
from inanimate components seem like a daunting task. However, recent progress toward the …

The first RNA World models were based on the concept of an RNA replicase-a ribozyme that
was a good enough RNA polymerase that it could catalyze its own replication. Although …

Mechanisms of molecular self-replication have the potential to shed light on the origins of
life. In particular, self-replication through RNA-catalysed templated RNA synthesis is thought …

The replication of nucleic acids is central to the origin of life. On the early Earth, suitable non-
equilibrium boundary conditions would have been required to surmount the effects of …

Understanding how life arose is a fundamental problem of biology. Much progress has been
made by adopting a synthetic and mechanistic perspective on originating life. We present a …

Conspectus Creating a living system from nonliving matter is a great challenge in chemistry
and biophysics. The early history of life can provide inspiration from the idea of the prebiotic …

The aim of this article is to provide the reader with an overview of the different possible
scenarios for the emergence of life, to critically assess them and, according to the …

The nonenzymatic replication of RNA is a potential transitional stage between the prebiotic
chemistry of nucleotide synthesis and the canonical RNA world in which RNA enzymes …

The transition from inanimate materials to the earliest forms of life must have involved
multiplication of a catalytically active polymer that is able to replicate. The semiconservative …